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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28673100">Thor, Vanitas, and Sora: Ragnarok</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Unlimited/pseuds/The_Unlimited'>The_Unlimited</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Light and Avengers [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Add in of new characters, Crossovers &amp; Fandom Fusions, During Kingdom Hearts III, F/M, Gen, Imprisonment, OC Vanitas, Sibling Rivalry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:29:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>52,549</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28673100</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Unlimited/pseuds/The_Unlimited</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>With Vanitas's belief back, the Gummi quartet brings along their friend Stitch, for a quick trip to their next world, thinking it might be fun...</p><p>Then they all get captured by an alcoholic Valkyrie and get trapped in a crazy man's arena with their grieving friend, Thor, while also making a discovery about his "dead" brother. Pretty soon, they're working together to fight in the man's arena, where they encounter ANOTHER friend of theirs. It's up to the combined forces of the Gummi quartet, and the new group, the "Revengers," to  escape Sakaar and try to get back to Asgard, where Thor's newly released homicidal sister is trying to rule with an iron fist. Could things get any worse?</p><p>Oh, and it turns out Maleficent and Pete are helping Thor's sister as she rages through Asgard. I probably shouldn't have said that...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Brunnhilde | Valkyrie &amp; Thor (Marvel), Donald Duck &amp; Goofy &amp; Player Character &amp; Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Jane Foster/Thor (past), Loki &amp; Thor (Marvel), Maleficent &amp; Pete (Kingdom Hearts), Maleficent (Kingdom Hearts) &amp; Hela (Marvel), Pete (Kingdom Hearts) &amp; Skurge (Thor: Ragnarok), Sora &amp; Vanitas &amp; Thor, Sora &amp; Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Stitch | Experiment 626 &amp; Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas &amp; Bruce Banner, Vanitas/Yuffie (Kingdom Hearts)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Light and Avengers [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1479848</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. A Small Trip</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>That was the closest tag for the Grandmaster I could find. Apparently, that's his real name in the comics</p><p>Also, I admittedly forgot to include a character tag for Hulk until after I did everything else. The whole split personality thing between him and Bruce makes these things a little difficult</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>With Vanitas's belief in himself back, the group made a quick stop back at Radiant Garden to visit their friends again for both a quick catch up, and to officially retire Vanitas's katana. After he used it for over a decade, it wouldn't have felt right to not give it a formal goodbye. The group gathered together in a patch of dirt just outside the city where they buried the remains of the sword, wrapped in a grey blanket.</p><p>"Man, that sword was through a whole lot with us," Vanitas said as he stood up next to his friends.</p><p>Stitch climbed up onto Vanitas's shoulder, and the ravenette gently fiddled with the little alien's hair, getting both participants to chuckle a bit.</p><p>"You're telling me," Leon agreed. He smirked. "Remember when you used it and the machete to fight off like, 50 Shadows and 50 other Soldiers?"</p><p>"Remember?" Vanitas asked with a small laugh that Stitch joined in on. "Dude, if I could have felt things back then, I'd have another face scar as a constant reminder."</p><p>"You and I sure did a lot of team moves with the sword," Goofy said with a smile. "They sure were fun."</p><p>"I remember, you once ended up having to use it to take out that Bahamut," Aerith said, pointing to Vanitas with a smile.</p><p>"I remember that you used it once when you were bored to cut up a fish," Yuffie said with a small laugh.</p><p>"And I abolished you both for sending the fish chunks all over the kitchen," Cid said with a smile.</p><p>"We were out of clean knives!" Vanitas laughed as he defended his past actions with his hands up to emphasize his point.</p><p>"Kind of wish we could've been there to witness <em>that</em>," Sora commented with a laugh.</p><p>"So, what's next on the agenda?" Cid asked as they all started walking back towards the entrance of town, with Stitch still riding on Vanitas's shoulder.</p><p>"Well, now that V's got his belief back," Sora said, gesturing to Vanitas, who raised his fists in victory. "We have to keep moving, trying to help me get back the power of waking, and get him his Keyblade back."</p><p>"It's gonna take all of us to make a stand against Xehanort," Donald repeated. "And he will definitely need his Keyblade for it."</p><p>"I look forward to the day we get to see you in action with your Keyblade again," Leon told Vanitas.</p><p>"Same here," Yuffie said, raising a hand. "It's been a long decade since the last time we saw you use that thing, and I'm hoping it's as badass as I remember."</p><p>"It is," Vanitas said with a smile, remembering what he had done in his dream (?). "You guys aren't the only ones who are anxious for me to get that thing back. Once I do, I can get back my other friends, and get back at the old man for what he did to all of us."</p><p>"I'm still a little surprised that the man responsible for our suffering..." Aerith started. "...Responsible for the suffering of so many worlds out there, wasn't just a Seeker of Darkness and his Nobody, but really Keyblade Master who's obsessed with trying to 'preserve balance'."</p><p>"I'm still surprised that the actions he's made for the last, decades, have been guided from the ancient Master of Masters from before the previous Keyblade War," Donald admitted as they walked into Merlin's house together.</p><p>"How much do you really know about this guy?" Leon asked. "This Master of Masters guy, how much do you know about him? I mean, besides just what we know from Vanitas's visions?"</p><p>"Not much," Vanitas admitted. "Just that he's surprisingly okay with encouraging teenagers to commit mass genocide, and leaving his apprentices to spew with their unions so they could start the Keyblade War."</p><p>"Wait a minute," Sora said, pointing at his cousin in remembrance. "When we first met the Avengers on Earth 616, Thor told me that there are old legends about the guy on Asgard, saying they were 'well before his time'. Maybe, if we go looking for Thor, he can take us to Asgard and let us look through these legends to learn a bit more about him."</p><p>"Yeah, he's our friend, so he should be okay with it," Donald agreed.</p><p>"Well, that's if his father, King Jerko, is okay with it," Vanitas commented, remembering how the last time he had seen Odin, things hadn't gone that well.</p><p>"Tellin' him that you're trying to find out more so you can stop a psycho from killin' a lot of people might convince him," Cid pointed out as he took his usual seat at the computer.</p><p>"Well, that's true," Vanitas said, cocking his head to the side.</p><p>Sora smiled and nodded his head, but then he paused in realization.</p><p>"Oh, wait," he said in sadness. "Thor's off looking for the guy behind the Infinity Stones. He could be anywhere."</p><p>"Well, then I guess it's time to use my powers to the extreme," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked.</p><p>"Telepathy," Vanitas reminded her. "I can hear inside my friends' minds, or locate them from far away. I won Hide and Seek so many times that way as a kid." He chuckled. "Anyway, maybe I can use it to locate Thor."</p><p>"Isn't he possibly on the other side of the galaxy?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"Yep," Vanitas said. "So this might suck a bit."</p><p>He placed his fingers to his temples, and Stitch climbed off of his shoulder to give him extra arm room. Vanitas exclaimed in effort as he pushed his telepathy to the max to try to locate Thor throughout the galaxy. He gritted his teeth as he felt more than a bit of pain flare through him as his powers did their best to locate their blonde friend. After a lot of exclaims of pain, during which he was sure his teeth were gonna shatter from how hard he was gritting them, he gasped as he released his powers and looked at his friends.</p><p>"He's landed on the world, Sakaar," Vanitas said.</p><p>"Hey, that's on the map," Donald pointed out. "Just a two hour flight."</p><p>"Awesome," Sora said, looking from Donald to Vanitas. "How come you don't do stuff like that more often?"</p><p>The smile dropped from his face when he saw how green Vanitas was looking. Vanitas exclaimed as he covered his mouth, then ran to the window that was closed with wooden shutters. He pushed open the shutters and threw up over the wall, outside of the house, making everyone wince or exclaim in disgust.</p><p>"That's why," Vanitas said with a voice cracked in pain as he closed the shutters. "My brain feels like it was just thrown in a microwave. And I think I just threw up on a dog."</p><p>His eyes rolled up into his head, and he collapsed onto the floor.</p><p>"Maybe he shouldn't do that that often," Leon commented.</p><p>"Agreed," Sora, Donald, then Goofy said with nods of their heads.</p><p>"Agreed," Vanitas said into the floor.</p><p>Vanitas winced as he got onto his hands and knees and started to push himself up so he was just on his knees. Stitch's exclaiming got everyone's attentions.</p><p>"Let me go with!" Stitch insisted. "Stitch wants adventure again!"</p><p>The Gummi quartet shared contemplative looks, and while Donald looked like he wanted to resist, he lost out to the others' excited expressions. Sora, Goofy, and Vanitas then looked at Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie expectantly.</p><p>"He's not our pet," Leon reminded them.</p><p>"He's free to go if he wants," Aerith added.</p><p>"You can come with, little buddy," Vanitas told Stitch with a smile as he stood up.</p><p>"Woohoo!" Stitch cheered, jumping towards Vanitas and climbing onto his shoulders.</p><p>"Safe travels, guys," Yuffie told the boys with a smile.</p><p>She kissed Vanitas, on the cheek instead of on the mouth, and the Gummi quartet with Stitch waved goodbye to their friends as they started out of the house and down the road. Their attentions were quickly drawn to the sound of a young girl screaming, though.</p><p>"Buster!" she exclaimed.</p><p>"Who would throw up on a dog!?" a male voice, probably the girl's father, exclaimed near her.</p><p>Vanitas looked at his friends, and they shared wide eyed looks of realization.</p><p>"Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, <em>go! </em>" Vanitas quickly whispered to his friends as they started running.</p><p>They quickly made their way back to the Gummi ship. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<hr/><p>As Donald promised, it took them more than a few hours of flying to get to Sakaar, during which Stitch exclaimed in amazement at the sight of the Lanes Between surging around them as they travelled to the world. That made sense to Vanitas, since it had been a while since the little alien had travelled through this terrain to get to Radiant Garden. Once they reached Sakaar, the group piloted the Gummi ship down towards the surface, and they exclaimed in surprise.</p><p>The atmosphere was much different than what they would've expected. The sky was mostly cloudy, though good amounts of sunlight shone through. Wormholes of various colors littered the sky over the <em>ginormous</em> scrap yard, which was filled with the remains of so many ships or pieces of trash that it would take forever to count. Within the Gummi ship, the group was able to faintly make out the image of the city far behind the gigantic expanses of trash, along with a gigantic, swirling storm that rose up into the sky over an ocean of not that clear water, red light of a wormhole swirling within the dark grey smoke.</p><p>"How are we supposed to find Thor here?" Donald asked in surprise.</p><p>"When I sensed his location, I was able to see an image of him surrounded by lots of ship remains," Vanitas said, gesturing to the scrap yard below them. "We should land somewhere down there."</p><p>"I was afraid you would say that," Donald admitted, sighing out as Sora turned the wheel to start directing the ship down.</p><p>They set the ship down on a part of land that Vanitas memorized for later, and climbed out onto the littered ground. Stitch exclaimed in confusion and climbed up onto Vanitas's shoulders, taking the easy route as the group started wading their way through the trash. Vanitas didn't protest. He would have done the same thing if Hulk was here or something. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>"How are we supposed to find Thor in this mess?" Donald asked, looking at the nearest pile of rubble with a frown.</p><p>"Simple," Vanitas said. "Since this was the last place I saw him, I should be able to sense his presence when for when we get close enough."</p><p>"I hope we're already close enough," Sora admitted with a nervous expression. "'Cause this scrap yard is pretty huge."</p><p>"Yeah, it was one of the prominent parts of the world out in the Ocean Between," Goofy said.</p><p>"Big scrap yard," Stitch agreed, gesturing with all four of his arms to emphasize his point, before retracting the other two again.</p><p>"Relax," Vanitas said, closing his eyes and placing two fingers to his right temple. "I'll find him."</p><p>He didn't have to reach out too far to locate Thor's presence.</p><p>"That was fast," Vanitas commented, opening his eyes and looking at his friends.</p><p>"You already found him?" Donald eagerly asked.</p><p>"Yep," Vanitas said, turning a bit. "He's right down... there."</p><p>He finished turning around and gestured across the scrap yard, but he paused and frowned in confusion as a large ship floated down on the other side of a slightly empty field in front of them. The panel doors slid open, and many people in robes and masks of various colors and designs started filing out, some of them carrying what looked like pipes, and one with a weird looking gun.</p><p>"That's not Thor," Sora said, confusion on his face.</p><p>"No, it is not," Vanitas agreed, shaking his head. "Huh. Maybe my powers react negatively to alcohol."</p><p>"When'd you drink alcohol?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"My mom's tea has the tiniest bit of vodka in it," Vanitas said, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at him in surprise. "I cannot express how tiny that bit of vodka is."</p><p>"Why would your mom let you have the recipe if it has vodka in it?" Donald asked.</p><p>"I never said she knows I have it," Vanitas reminded the duck. "I just said I have it." <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>The rest of the group had to put the implications of Vanitas's words to the side as the robed man carrying the weird looking gun took off his mask, revealing his grey face.</p><p>"Are you fighters?" he asked. "Or are you food?"</p><p>"We're just passing through," Sora said. "We don't want any trouble."</p><p>"They are food," the man told his robed allies.</p><p>"I think <em>they</em> want trouble," Goofy said, nervousness in his voice as the scavengers started walking forwards.</p><p>"On your knees," a scavenger threatened, pointing a rifle at Vanitas.</p><p>Stitch jumped to action and yelled out in anger, lunging onto the scavenger's face. The scavenger exclaimed in fright as he dropped his rifle and reached for Stitch, trying and failing to get the blue alien off of him.</p><p>"Bring it, bitches!" Vanitas exclaimed, mentally preparing himself.</p><p>Pretty much everybody sprung into action from there. Sora, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons while Vanitas grabbed the laser rifle the scavenger had dropped. Sora and Goofy deflected the pipe like weapons the scavengers used with their own weapons while Donald jumped up and hit one scavenger in the face with his staff, and Vanitas fired the laser rifle through another scavenger, killing him.</p><p>The lead scavenger aimed the weird looking gun he had, but wasn't entirely sure what to do since he was facing five enemies. Vanitas aimed the laser rifle at the man, so he fired the gun at Vanitas. A net surrounded Vanitas with electric barbs, electrocuting the ravenette to the ground, and a couple of the scavengers took advantage of his vulnerable state to start kicking him.</p><p>Vanitas exclaimed in pain once more before he teleported out of the net, right in front of the very surprised lead scavenger. The scavenger tried desperately to aim his net gun again, but Vanitas was quicker and pulled out his bowie knife, stabbing the man in the stomach. Deciding to let some of his tendencies left over from his nine year rampage take over, Vanitas twisted the knife purposefully to hurt the scavenger. It worked, the scavenger cried out in pain before Vanitas pulled the knife out, then slashed the man's throat with it, killing him.</p><p>While the lead scavenger fell to the ground, dead, Stitch was finishing up with the scavenger he pounced on. He was scratching up the scavenger's head up a bit with his claws, and had the man running around blindly, right towards a large pile of scrap. Stitch looked up, calculating the right time, then jumped off of the scavenger's head, making him run right up to the scrap and making the pile fall down on top of him. The scrap completely covered the scavenger on the ground while Stitch landed gently.</p><p>"Next time, play nice!" Stitch called out.</p><p>The rest of the group had made short work of the other scavengers. Sora had managed to knock three unconscious with combo attacks from his Keyblade before blasting another with Blizzard, knocking him back. Sora, Donald, and Vanitas then started Flare Force X, sending out the many flares to attack, which knocked around lots of scavengers while doing a good amount of damage. Goofy immediately knocked another scavenger unconscious with a swing of his shield once the flares stopped firing. The last two scavengers got fearful looks on their faces and turned away from the group, starting to run back to their ship. Donald blasted Fire while Vanitas fired his Colt M1911, both of the attacks taking the scavengers to the ground.</p><p>"Normally, I'd reprimand you guys," Sora admitted. "But since they apparently wanted to eat us, I'm gonna let it slide this time."</p><p>"Glad we got your blessing to kill them," Vanitas sarcastically commented as Stitch climbed back up onto his shoulder. "Man, I hope that's the last time I get shocked for a while." <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>Everyone's attentions were soon drawn to the sound of another ship's engines roaring. They looked up to see a ship that was larger, and better designed than the scavenger ship, flying right over it into the empty field. The ship lowered down onto the ground, with the wings on the side raising up as the ship landed, showing the engines on each end. The group had to admit that the white, black, and red paint designs on the wings looked nice.</p><p>A platform retracted down from the top windshield, causing an exit ramp to reach down to the ground in front of the group. The windshield opened up to reveal the cockpit, and a tan skinned woman in a blue tank leather garb with arm guards, white painted designs on her face, and her black hair tied back stepped up, taking a quick second to chug from a bottle of wine.</p><p>"Howard would love this lady," Vanitas muttered with a raised eyebrow as the woman tossed the empty bottle to the ground, where it shattered on impact.</p><p>"You all fight well," the woman commented as she started to stumble down the ramp before composing herself. "You will make great participants in the arena."</p><p>"Arena?" Donald asked, confusion in his voice.</p><p>"Sorry, ma'am, but we don't have time to enter some arena," Sora said in a reasoning voice.</p><p>"I wasn't asking," the woman bluntly said.</p><p>Vanitas raised an eyebrow at the threat. But before he could raise his handgun to fight back, the woman quickly tossed five disks, all of which managed to attach themselves onto Sora, Donald, Goofy, Vanitas, and Stitch's necks. As the five exclaimed their confusion and reached for the disks, the woman pulled out a small pad and pressed a button. They all started exclaiming in pain as the disks started electrocuting them, making them fall to the ground.</p><p>Once the shocks started to relent slightly, all five members of the group were on the ground, but too weak from the attack to try to escape. They all winced and breathed in and out in pain as they looked up at the woman, who walked over to them and looked down with an impassive expression.</p><p>"Six instead of just one," the woman said, her expression changing to contemplation. "The boss'll be much more appreciative."</p><p>"I'm gonna beat the shit out of you," Vanitas croaked out.</p><p>"I'd like to see you try," the woman said with a smirk.</p><p>Before Vanitas could make another witty remark, the woman pressed the button on her pad again, sending the shocks into the boys once again. They kept exclaiming in pain until it grew to be too much, and the group fell unconscious.</p>
<hr/><p>On the other side of the galaxy, on the planet of Asgard, Thor's sister, Hela, the goddess of death, stood at the end of the Bifrost rainbow bridge, looking down and scratching the nails of her right hand while she rested her left hand on her hip, while the army of warriors from Asgard led by Thor's friend, Hogun, stood ready against the enemy, and Hela's own backup stood just a few feet away.</p><p>"It's come to my attention that you don't know who I am," Hela said, looking up towards the entire courtyard full of soldiers standing ready against her, along with the one or two dozen flying skiffs in the air standing ready, and the many archers perched upon various balconies.</p><p>"I am Hela," Hela announced with both hands on her hips. "Odin's firstborn, the commander of the legions of Asgard, the rightful heir to the throne, and the Goddess of Death."</p><p>The soldiers all stood ready, raising their shields in defense while pointing their spears at the woman.</p><p>"My father is dead," Hela continued, not even responding to the army in front of her. "As are the princes. You're welcome. We were once the seat of absolute power in the cosmos. Our supremacy was unchallenged. Yet Odin stopped at Nine Realms..." She smirked. "Our destiny is to rule over all others. And I am here to restore that power. With the help of my new friends."</p><p>Nearby, Skurge winced with Pete while Maleficent smiled widely.</p><p>"With the power of the darkness and the Heartless, all the realms will be ours," Maleficent assured Hela.</p><p>"That's exactly want I want," Hela smirked before looking over the army in front of her again. "Kneel before me... and rise into the ranks of my great conquest."</p><p>"Whoever you are..." Hogun started, wielding his mace in his hand. "Whatever you've done, surrender now! Or we will show you no mercy."</p><p>"Whoever I am?" Hela asked, offended. "Did you listen to a word I said?"</p><p>"They must be more brain damaged than Pete," Maleficent commented.</p><p>Maleficent and Hela chuckled while Pete winced again.</p><p>"This is your last warning!" Hogun announced.</p><p>"...I thought you'd be happy to see me," Hela admitted.</p><p>Hogun let the chain and ball of his mace fall down, and the spikes popped out.</p><p>Hela sighed out, "Fine," before running her hands along her head, making her wicked looking helmet appear.</p><p>Hogun charged in, and Hela had blades fly out of her hands, which he managed to deflect with his mace. He got in close and swung his mace, but Hela dodged and deflected his attacks before kicking the soldier in the chest, knocking him through a ceramic railing.</p><p>The soldiers all started charging forwards, and Pete went wide eyed in fear as Hela pretty much destroyed them all without breaking a sweat. She flipped forwards and slashed with her swords before making more blades appear from basically nowhere, throwing them into soldiers and into nearby flying skiffs, making them fall to the ground in explosions. Hela easily slashed through soldiers' armor with her own blades, before using her cape to block gunfire from the flying skiffs. She sent out more blades into the skiffs, destroying four of them at once.</p><p>Hela continued to take out soldiers all around her, easily dodging or deflecting their swords, and retaliating by sending out blades of her own. At one point, Hela leaned back and pointed her head back, sending out multiple blades from the barbs from her helmet into the soldiers behind her, taking them out. The nicest kill she did to any of the soldiers was simply break one man's neck, but then she just tossed his body into another soldier before impaling him, too. She then pushed through the soldiers before easily taking them out with her blades. One lucky soldier managed to impale Hela with his sword, but she barely registered it and broke the blade in half, taking the handle and stabbing the sword through the man's neck. She then used the broken sword again to jab the blade into another soldier's neck, taking him out, too.</p><p>Within just a minute, all of the soldiers were dead, with their dead bodies littering the ground of the courtyard. Skurge and Pete walked forwards, with Pete looking at Hela in slight fear, while Maleficent smiled gleefully.</p><p>"Why didn't I recruit her instead of Loki?" she asked. "With her, we would have taken over all the worlds by now. Sora and his friends wouldn't have been able to stop us. And they won't be able to now."</p><p>"Oh, I've missed this," Hela said, nostalgia in her voice as she walked along the bodies of the soldiers she just slaughtered. "Still, it's a shame. Good soldiers dying for nothing, all because they couldn't see the future."</p><p>"How sad," Maleficent lamented in a similar voice as the two walked next to each other, Pete and Skurge slowly following behind.</p><p>The villianesses' attentions were drawn to the sounds of Hogun groaning in pain as he started to get up.</p><p>"Oh, look, still alive," Hela said, impassivity in her voice.</p><p>Hogun managed to get up onto his feet, with bleeding wounds on the side of his face from being scratched up, having tried fighting with the other soldiers just moments earlier.</p><p>"Change of heart?" Hela asked.</p><p>"Go back to whatever cave you crept out of," Hogun said as Hela and Maleficent smirked. "You evil demoness!"</p><p>He pulled a knife out of a hidden sheath with his left hand. But then Hela sent out a particularly larger blade, impaling Hogun right into the ground. The life slept out of him pretty quickly, rendering Asgard defenseless against Hela.</p><p>"What a waste," Maleficent commented, the same impassivity in her voice that was in Hela's.</p><p>"Let's go see my palace," Hela told her entourage.</p><p>"Our agreement still stands?" Maleficent asked.</p><p>"Of course," Hela assured the evil fairy. "You provide me the Heartless, and I help you conquer your own realms, and let you into the throne room. The black box you search for might be in there."</p><p>She and Maleficent started walking over the dead bodies once again, making a beeline for the palace.</p><p>"How did this become our lives?" Pete asked Skurge once the women were out of earshot.</p><p>"Who knows?" Skurge asked. "Right now, I'm just gonna make the right decisions to make sure I don't get killed."</p><p>"Welcome to everyday of my life," Pete commented.</p><p>Pete sighed out, and he and Skurge started following Hela and Maleficent to the palace. Unbeknownst to all of them, as they were heading to the palace, a robed figure snuck up the observatory at the other end of the Bifrost bridge and ran right up to the diaz in the center. He detached the sword from the stand and carried it with him out of the observatory, ensuring that Hela and Maleficent couldn't use it... <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 What normal Kingdom Hearts III was missing: at least one visit to Radiant Garden. I know they corrected that mistake with Re:Mind, but it still felt cheap to not have a scene with Sora and the gang there</p><p>*2 An obvious joke for those of us who know the movie, but one I still wanted to do</p><p>*3 Let's face it, that's like, every high school age teenager. Well, except for me, but I'm weird. Also, no, his powers don't react negatively to alcohol, that's just the guess he came up with because he didn't have another explanation. This takes place after Valkyrie picks up Thor, with another group of scavengers</p><p>*4 You'd think he'd have learned to stop jinxing himself</p><p>*5 I was so eager to get this chapter done that I forgot to include the bit with Heimdall at the end. I'm glad they gave my boy, Idris Elba a bigger role in this movie, despite how minute it still kind of is</p><p>Get ready a new set of friendships: Hela and Maleficent over being crazy, evil ladies out for conquering the galaxy, and Pete and Skurge bonding over being henchmen that aren't appreciated</p><p>Full disclosure, for this story, I'm just gonna include deleted scenes, and not include extended versions of scenes that we already know. I just don't feel those are that necessary to include since they're just slightly longer versions of scenes we already know</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Grandmaster</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group wakes up to find out that they're not in a good situation...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sounds of a door opening and gears powering up helped the Gummi quartet slowly start to wake up. They woozily looked through the new light to see that they were slowly moving forwards, one at a time, bolted down onto seats as they were forcefully traversed down a hallway with lots of gears all around them. There was another chair in front of them, but they couldn't see who was in it.</p><p>"Sora..." Vanitas muttered, woozily. "Donnie... Goof...?"</p><p>"I'm here," Sora said, just as woozily.</p><p>"Present," Donald said.</p><p>"My neck hurts bad," Goofy said.</p><p>"Stitch..." Vanitas asked, hoping their alien friend was just as close by.</p><p>"My friends...?" a familiar, British, just as woozy voice called out from the chair in front of Sora.</p><p>"Thor?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Well, looks like my powers weren't acting up, and he <em>was</em> nearby," Vanitas commented. "Kinda wish this was a more pleasant reunion."</p><p>"You and me both, friend V," Thor said.</p><p>"<em>Fear not, for you are found</em>," a female voice announced from... somewhere, making the group slowly look around in confusion as the wooziness started to fade.</p><p>The expressions of the five quickly changed from tired to alert when they saw the gears passing by. Sora, Thor, and Vanitas struggled against the metal clamps holding them against the chairs, which was difficult for even Vanitas or Thor to break through.</p><p>"<em>You are home, and there is no going back</em>," the female voice continued. The lights slowly started to turn off behind them. "<em>No one leaves this place</em>."</p><p>"That doesn't seem nice," Goofy commented.</p><p>"<em>But what is this place</em>?" the female voice continued as the chairs moved the boys through a new section, with stars all around them. "<em>The answer is Sakaar</em>."</p><p>Vanitas frowned in confusion as music he remembered from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory started playing as holographic images of planets appeared around them.</p><p>"<em>Surrounded by cosmic gateways, Sakaar lives on the edge of the known and unknown</em>," the voice continued as colorful lights sped past the group as their chairs continued running down the track. "<em>It is the collection point for all lost and unloved things, like you</em>."</p><p>"Bitch," Vanitas commented with an offended frown.</p><p>Donald, Goofy, and even Sora nodded in agreement as the lights and gears continued to gather around them in their seats, blocking out the projected images of the star filled night sky. The sights around them made the group started making confused expressions.</p><p>"<em>But here on Sakaar, you are significant</em>," the voice continued. Thor's eyes widened as the projected image of a planet appeared in front of them. "<em>You are valuable.</em>"</p><p>The five of them passed through the planet, and they all kept making confused expressions.</p><p>"<em>Here you are loved</em>," the voice continued.</p><p>"What the hell?" Thor asked.</p><p>"You read my mind," Vanitas commented as Thor, Donald, and Goofy shot worried expressions at the gears and lights around them.</p><p><em>"And no one loves you more than the Grandmaster</em>," the voice continued. The projected image of a building retracted, and the shadow outline of a man rose up in its place. "He is the original, the first lost and the first found..." An image of a city appeared behind the man. "The creator of Sakaar, and the founder of the Contest of Champions."</p><p>Projected images of an arena with two men fighting then appeared around the group. Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy kept jumping in surprise as the images changed into more images of the arena.</p><p>"Where once you were nothing, now you are something," the female voice continued.</p><p>"Why is she so mean?" Donald complained.</p><p>"Who knows?" Sora asked, a slight nervousness in his voice.</p><p>"You are the property of the Grandmaster," the voice continued as the lights started moving faster around the five. The lights themselves were flashing between newly sinister looking colors. "Congratulations. You will meet the Grandmaster in 5 seconds."</p><p>The group exclaimed in surprise and a bit of fear as the lights around them made themselves into wicked looking shapes.</p><p>"<em>Prepare yourself</em>," the voice said as the boys kept exclaiming in surprise and fear. "<em>Prepare yourself. You are now meeting the Grandmaster</em>."</p><p>All five of them yelled out in fear as the light flew past them even faster, with Donald and Goofy closing their eyes because they were afraid. Sora, Thor, and Vanitas stopped screaming when the lights very quickly disappeared.</p><p>They looked around to see the five seats had formed a line in the center of a large chamber, with guards wearing armor all around them in green, red, yellow, or blue armor, each of them holding matching spears. In front of them was a tan skinned man with silver hair sitting on a throne observing the group with interest. The woman who had kidnapped the group was on his left side, and another woman with similar armor, but of different colors was on his right. Behind them was a large window that gave a view of the gigantic city behind them.</p><p>"Jeff Goldblum?" Vanitas asked, frowning in realization as he looked at the man.</p><p>He then realized that Donald and Goofy were still screaming in fear with their eyes closed.</p><p>"Guys!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>Donald and Goofy opened their eyes and slowly stopped screaming as they looked around, quickly zeroing their attentions onto their friends.</p><p>"Hmm, hmm, hmm," the man, who they guessed was the Grandmaster since his hair was similarly shaped to the shadow from the previous presentation, hummed in thought as Thor and Vanitas strained as they tried to get free. "They're wonderful. All these boys. They are boys?"</p><p>He looked up at the woman in the tank tunic, the one who had kidnapped them.</p><p>"They are boys," the woman confirmed.</p><p>"Yeah," the Grandmaster smirked as he looked at the group. They frowned in confusion at the people in front of them. "I love when you come to visit, 142. You bring me just, the best stuff. Like my new pet."</p><p>He smirked as he gestured down to his feet. The Gummi quartet and Thor followed his gestured hand down to see Stitch down on his hands (all four of them), and feet, exclaiming in sadness with a collar around his neck, and a leash attached to the throne.</p><p>"Hey!" Vanitas exclaimed, raising his eyes at the sight of his friend before looking up at the Grandmaster, the woman dubbed "142," and the other woman. "He's an intelligent life form. Let him go!"</p><p>"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," the man said with a nonchalant smile.</p><p>"Let him go," Vanitas slowly said with anger in his voice and on his face. "Let him go right now, or will rip your head off with my bare fucking hands, you son of a..."</p><p>"142" pulled out the mechanic from earlier and pointed it at Vanitas, pressing the button and electrocuting the ravenette.</p><p>"B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-biiiiiitch!" Vanitas stuttered as he got electrocuted again.</p><p>He fell back in his chair as if he was relaxing, when in reality he was still wincing in pain from the latest burst of electricity forcefully surged through his body. "142" pressed the button to stop surging the electricity seconds later. She looked over the rest of the Gummi quartet, seeing them staring at her with wide eyes of fear.</p><p>"Get the picture?" "142" asked, holding up the device.</p><p>"Yup," Sora quickly said, nodding his head.</p><p>"Very," Donald agreed, also nodding his head.</p><p>"Message received," Goofy added. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>The Grandmaster chuckled.</p><p>"As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted," he chuckled, gesturing to the still wincing Vanitas. "You always bring me the best stuff, 142." He looked up at the other woman, gesturing to her. "Whenever we get to talking, Topaz, about Scrapper 142, what do I always say? 'She is the...' And it starts with a 'B'."</p><p>"Trash," Topaz said, looking at Scrapper 142 with obvious distaste.</p><p>"Not what I would have gone with," Vanitas commented, wincing again. "Especially since he said 'Starts with a B'."</p><p>The Grandmaster's excited expression dropped, and he looked at Topaz.</p><p>"No, not trash," he told her. He raised one hand in confusion. "Were you waiting to just call her that? It doesn't start with a 'B'."</p><p>"Booze hag," Topaz said.</p><p>Scrapper 142 frowned at Topaz, who frowned back.</p><p>"Drama..." Sora whispered in a sing song like voice.</p><p>Vanitas smiled.</p><p>"I have never been prouder of you," he said before wincing again.</p><p>The Grandmaster exclaimed as he looked from Topaz to Scrapper 142. "Uh, I'm so sorry. No, 'best.' I was thinking about 'best'. 'Cause I always say you're the best. She brought me my beloved champion, you know."</p><p>"You say that every time she's here," Topaz commented, annoyance in her voice.</p><p>"What have you brought today?" the Grandmaster asked, looking up at Scrapper 142. "Tell me."</p><p>"On top of your new pet, contenders," Scrapper 142 answered. "I'd say five, but based on those two's reactions, to the process, I'd say only three."</p><p>She gestured to Donald and Goofy.</p><p>"We're what?" Thor demanded.</p><p>"How are we not contenders?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"You get scared too easily," Scrapper 142 said, and the Grandmaster nodded in agreement.</p><p>"No, we do not!" Donald snapped, offended.</p><p>"Yes, you do," Vanitas corrected the duck.</p><p>"Yes, you do," Sora agreed.</p><p>"Yes, we do," Goofy added.</p><p>Donald sighed out and looked down in defeat. "Yes, we do."</p><p>"I need to go closer," the Grandmaster said. "I want to get a closer look at these three. Can you take us closer?" Topaz stepped behind the Grandmaster's throne. "Thank you."</p><p>Topaz started sliding the Grandmaster in his throne forwards, past two ladies sitting in golden dresses on either side of a large step. Scrapper 142 walked next to the throne as Topaz slid it to a stop at the end of the large stair. The Grandmaster observed Sora, Vanitas, and Thor with great interest while the three stared back with confused expressions.</p><p>"Wait," Vanitas said in realization. "That 'Contest of Champions'... You want us to fight people in your arena?"</p><p>"Looks like this one's got some brains," the Grandmaster commented, looking at Vanitas before continuing to observe the three. He then looked up at Topaz. "Pay this lady."</p><p>"Just wait a damn minute," Thor snapped, struggling against his restraints. "I'm not for sale!"</p><p>He exclaimed in effort as he pulled his arms up, detaching the magnetic clamps around his forearms off of the seat, releasing his arms. But then Scrapper 142 used her device once more to send out electricity into Thor, shocking him until he fell back in his seat. Topaz and the Grandmaster laughed at his effort.</p><p>"Man, he's a fighter," the Grandmaster commented.</p><p>"He's not the only one," Vanitas announced.</p><p>He exclaimed in effort as he broke his right hand off of the clamp and grabbed Sora, using his short range teleportation to get them out of their seats and right behind the three in front of them. Luckily, Vanitas had practiced doing that with Sora a bit more so he wasn't as dazed when they came out of the teleportation. Sora summoned his Keyblade and Vanitas pulled his machete out of his sling still attached to his back. They raised their weapons against the enemies, but Scrapper 142 pressed the button on the device again, making the cousins freeze as they exclaimed out, dropping their weapons and falling back onto the ground. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>"Good effort," the Grandmaster commented. "I will admit that."</p><p>A small group of soldiers came forward and picked up Vanitas and Sora, carrying them back to the seats they were locked down on and using the metal clamps still on their forearms to attack them to the seat again. They returned Vanitas's machete to his sling, but the Kingdom Key disappeared before any of them could touch it.</p><p>"Well, that was interesting," the Grandmaster chuckled, gesturing to where the Keyblade had disappeared. "And the scarred one was right; they're all fighters."</p><p>"I take 10 million," Scrapper 142 announced. "Each. Only 2 million for the lower life forms."</p><p>"Hey!" Donald, Goofy, and then Stitch exclaimed in offense.</p><p>"Tell her she's dreaming," Topaz blankly told the Grandmaster as she looked at Scrapper 142.</p><p>"Oh, for heaven's sakes, transfer the units," the Grandmaster told her. "We've got enough to literally burn."</p><p>Topaz relented and looked down at a device on her wrist, pressing a button. The Grandmaster smiled at Scrapper 142, who rubbed his cheek gratefully before walking down the stairs. The Grandmaster smirked and rubbed his cheek like a bashful child while Scrapper 142 continued walking.</p><p>"You'll pay for this," Thor weakly told Scrapper 142, pointing at her.</p><p>"No, I got paid for this," Scrapper 142 blandly corrected him.</p><p>"I'm... gonna kill you," Vanitas just as weakly snapped as Scrapper 142 walked out of earshot.</p><p>Thor, Sora, and Vanitas were still reeling from the electric surge a bit as the Grandmaster walked up to them, Stitch following with a sad expression as the Grandmaster held the leash in his hand. Topaz walked past the Grandmaster and the chairs, going down the same hallway as Scrapper 142.</p><p>"Here's what I want to know," the Grandmaster announced, pressing a button on his own device, returning everyone's arms to the chairs. "Who are you guys?"</p><p>"I... am the God of Thunder," Thor slowly announced, breaking his arms out of the magnetic restraints as he exclaimed the last bit dramatically.</p><p>Small bits of electricity surged over his fingers.</p><p>"Wow," the Grandmaster commented in a fake amazed voice. "I didn't hear any thunder, but out of your fingers, was that, like, sparkles?"</p><p>He looked over the Gummi quartet as he made the magnetic clamps retach Thor's arms to the chair.</p><p>"And the rest of you?" the Grandmaster asked.</p><p>"Vanitas Jordan," Vanitas said. "The youngest Keyblade Master in decades."</p><p>"What's a Keyblade?" the Grandmaster asked with a frown.</p><p>"Okay, this already isn't boding well for us," Vanitas commented, looking at his shipmates.</p><p>"I'm Sora Derrik," Sora said.</p><p>"Donald Duck," Donald added.</p><p>"And I'm Goofy," Goofy said, raising his hand as best he could.</p><p>"We saved all the worlds," Sora said, the others nodding in agreement as they looked at the Grandmaster. "Twice. Currently working on the third time."</p><p>"Not ringing any bells," the Grandmaster said with a skeptical frown.</p><p>"What about the Master of Masters, or the foretellers?" Vanitas asked, wondering what all the guy know about. "Or the Keyblade War?"</p><p>The Grandmaster continued to look confused.</p><p>"Kingdom Hearts?" Sora asked, hopefully.</p><p>"What is that, the heart of some kind of kingdom?" the Grandmaster asked.</p><p>'<em>Why do I have a feeling that that's what people asked when the first game came out? </em>' Vanitas thought.</p><p>He got an idea.</p><p>"I'm the son of the god of war," Vanitas announced.</p><p>"Wow, sounds important," the Grandmaster said with his still fake enthusiasm.</p><p>"Friend V, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered visiting your world once," Thor pointed out, confusion on his face.</p><p>Vanitas was confused for a second, too.</p><p>"Oh, right," he remembered. "In Norse mythology, you're also kind of their god of war. No, I meant the Greek god of war, Ares."</p><p>"The Greeks are still around?" Thor asked, surprised.</p><p>"Yeah, and they used to have kids with mortals on V's Earth," Sora said. "He's both a demigod, and a super powered human called an Enhanced. Apparently it's the first time anyone's ever seen something like that before."</p><p>"Wow," Thor said, sounding impressed.</p><p>"Why are we having just a casual conversation when we're all still locked to these chairs?" Vanitas asked, confusion on his face. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>"Yeah, that's confusing me a bit, too," the Grandmaster admitted.</p><p>"We've located your cousin," Topaz announced, walking past the Grandmaster and carrying a techno like staff.</p><p>"Uh, oh, good!" the Grandmaster exclaimed as he looked over at her.</p><p>He started walking after Topaz, and the others frowned in confusion as their seats slid along the floor after the two. Stitch continued to exclaim his discomfort as he walked along on all sixes next to the Grandmaster.</p><p>"Yeah, come on," he told the Gummi quartet and Thor. "I think you're gonna like this. There he is."</p><p>He passed another throne where a nervous alien man was sitting, looking like he was ready to pee himself.</p><p>"Hey, cuz," the Grandmaster said, patting his apparent cousin on the leg before walking up next to Topaz. The others' chairs slid up next to the man's. "We almost couldn't find you. What, you been hiding?"</p><p>"Hi," Thor muttered to the nervous man.</p><p>"How you doing?" Vanitas asked as the man whimpered in fear.</p><p>"I'm Sora," Sora said, trying to find a way to alleviate his fear.</p><p>"Hmm. So..." the Grandmaster said, taking the staff from Topaz, giving her the leash holding Stitch. He turned around again and looked at his cousin.</p><p>"Please," the man whimpered. "I'm sorry."</p><p>"Yeah," the Grandmaster said. "Carlo..." He held up two fingers. "I pardon you."</p><p>"Oh, thank you," Carlo said, relieved. "Thank you."</p><p>'<em>Well, that's good</em>,' Goofy thought.</p><p>'<em>He'll get out of this</em>,' Donald thought.</p><p>'<em>Don't be fooled, guys</em>,' Vanitas projected into his friends' heads. '<em>Usually, these guys aren't done talking as they give that false hope</em>.'</p><p>Unfortunately, Vanitas was right.</p><p>"You're officially pardoned," the Grandmaster said, gripping the staff with both hands. "From life."</p><p>He pressed the orb on top of the staff up against Carlo's chest, and Carlo exclaimed in pain as blue light gathered around him and smoke grew. The Grandmaster winced with the Gummi quartet as the sounds of liquid boiling started coming from Carlo. Still yelling in pain, Carlo looked at the group next to him, anguish on his face that could barely be seen through the smoke.</p><p>"Help me," Carlo begged as his body melted into blue liquid.</p><p>"Oh, my god!" Thor exclaimed, naturally horrified.</p><p>"Holy fucking shit!" Vanitas exclaimed, just as horrified. "This is worse than what happened to that guy in Jason Goes to Hell!"</p><p>Sora exclaimed with his eyes wide, and his jaw dropped, doing his best to try to look away. Donald exclaimed at the sight with his own eyes wide, wincing at the sight next to him. Goofy exclaimed, as well, and was doing his best not to throw up since it would have just all landed on his lap. Even Stitch exclaimed in horrified disgust, and he had seen sights similar to this as an Experiment.</p><p>The Grandmaster was surprisingly indifferent to what just happened, and was only concerned with the liquid that was his cousin sliding across the floor to his feet.</p><p>"I'm stepping in it," he commented, raising his robe up a bit. "I'm stepping in it. Look! Wow."</p><p>He stepped away from the liquid, taking the leash and his mechanism back from Topaz.</p><p>"Oh, the smell," Thor said in anguish.</p><p>"What does it smell like?" the Grandmaster asked Topaz.</p><p>"Burnt toast," Topaz said, making the Grandmaster smirk.</p><p>"I think I preferred you as Dr Malcolm, or even Brundlefly," Vanitas commented with a wince, confusing the Grandmaster. "Who the hell laughs at turning their own cousin into blue raspberry slushie?"</p><p>"Not completely sure I understand what you're talking about," the Grandmaster admitted, pointing at Vanitas.</p><p>"That's normal with him," Sora admitted, still horrified from having just seen a man melt.</p><p>The Grandmaster chuckled again.</p><p>"Where are my manners?" he asked. "I haven't properly introduced myself. Come on. Uh, follow me."</p><p>The Grandmaster pressed a button on his device, and the five chairs slid across the floor, following the man into a club like area. That was the best guess from Donald, Goofy, and Sora since upbeat music was playing while people danced around or chatted happily while sipping down alcoholic beverages.</p><p>"My name is Grandmaster," the Grandmaster said. Thor, Sora, and Vanitas frowned in confusion as the chairs slid to a stop, while the Grandmaster stepped behind what looked like an advanced keyboard. "I preside over a little harlequinade called the Contest of Champions."</p><p>"That honestly sounds like something we'd wanna join in on," Sora commented as the man messed around on the keyboard.</p><p>"You mean <em>you'd</em> wanna join in on," Donald corrected the brunette.</p><p>"Yet, you guys join with us, anyway," Vanitas reminded the duck.</p><p>"People come from far and wide to unwillingly participate in it," the Grandmaster continued as if the boys hadn't interrupted. "And you, my friends, might just be part of the new cast, like Vanitas there mentioned."</p><p>"Vanitas," Vanitas corrected the man.</p><p>"What do you say to that?" the Grandmaster asked.</p><p>"I say, Fuck You, Jeff Goldblum," Vanitas said in his usual anger before he paused and looked forwards with wide eyes. "Whoa. Never thought I'd say that." He made a sad face and commented in a cracked voice, "I love Jeff Goldblum."</p><p>"We are not friends, and I don't give a shit about your games," Thor snapped at the Grandmaster.</p><p>"Vulgar version of what I was gonna say, but accurate," Sora commented.</p><p>"I'm going back to Asgard," Thor announced.</p><p>"Ass-guard," the Grandmaster mispronounced the name before messing around with the keyboard.</p><p>Thor sighed out in annoyance at the man's antics before his attention was drawn to the right. The Gummi quartet followed his gaze and were surprised to see Loki sitting on a bench on their right, happily chatting with a bunch of alien guests. The Gummi quartet were certainly surprised, especially Sora, Donald, and Goofy since they had last heard from Thor and Vanitas that Loki had died while they were asleep. The three of them were a little nervous, since the last time they had seen Loki, he was the restrained prisoner that was being taken back to Asgard to be punished for his crimes against Earth 616.</p><p>"Loki?" Thor asked with a surprised smile. "Loki! Loki!"</p><p>Loki looked towards the group in confusion, and his smile dropped immediately. Thor continued smiling happily towards his brother, while Vanitas shot him a disappointed face, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy tried their best to hide their scared expressions.</p><p>"Over here! Over here!" Thor requested, moving his head in a way to gesture for Loki to come forwards.</p><p>Loki stood up and laughed uneasily at the people around him before moving towards the still restrained Thor and Gummi quartet.</p><p>"Excuse me one second," Loki told the people with a reasoning voice, setting his glass with an alcoholic beverage down.</p><p>"What?" Thor snapped.</p><p>Loki shushed Thor and he walked up in front of his brother.</p><p>"What?" Thor whispered.</p><p>"You're alive?" Loki asked.</p><p>"<em>You're</em> alive?" Vanitas whispered, snapping at the man. "Dude, I thought we were becoming good friends."</p><p>"We were," Loki confirmed. "We bonded over shitty fathers and tried to kill Malekith."</p><p>"And then you faked your death," Vanitas added, still whispering. "<em>Again</em>. We mourned you, you prick!"</p><p>"I never asked you to," Loki commented.</p><p>He then exclaimed as the glass he set down hit him in the back of his head, shattering on impact.</p><p>"Who threw that?" Loki demanded, looking around.</p><p>Vanitas laughed loudly and guiltily as he raised his right hand up best he could. Sora, Donald, and Goofy smirked at his antics.</p><p>"What?" Loki asked, confused. "How is that possible?"</p><p>'<em>I got my life force and powers back, dude,</em>' Vanitas thought, which Loki heard in his head, surprised. Vanitas then said aloud, "So I've got a lot more of a punch than before."</p><p>"I'll keep that in mind," Loki commented, looking at Vanitas before looking at the other three. "Keyblade Wielder. Mage. Captain."</p><p>"Loki," Sora greeted.</p><p>"Guy who tried to kill our friends," Donald commented.</p><p>"Nice to officially meet you," Goofy said, the only one smiling. "I'm Goofy."</p><p>"What are you people doing here?" Loki asked the group, specifically looking at Thor.</p><p>"What do you mean, what are we doing?" Thor asked, confused. "We're stuck in these stupid chairs. Where's your chair?"</p><p>"I didn't get a chair," Loki admitted.</p><p>"Get us out of these ones," Thor said.</p><p>"I can't," Loki said.</p><p>"Get me out," Thor repeated.</p><p>"I can't," Loki repeated.</p><p>"What?" Thor asked, still confused.</p><p>"I've made friends with this man," Loki said. "He's called the Grandmaster."</p><p>"Yeah, we've met the prick," Donald commented.</p><p>"He's crazy!" Thor said.</p><p>"I've gained his favor," Loki said. "Why doesn't V just use his powers to unlock the restraints?"</p><p>"I've tried that seven times," Vanitas admitted, once again attempting to use his telekinesis to open up the wrist restraints for himself, Sora, and Thor. "There's some kind of anti-telekinesis setting on these things. Probably the smartest I've seen Jeff Goldblum."</p><p>"Well, that's unfortunate, for you guys," Loki commented before looking at Thor again. "The Bifrost brought me out here weeks ago."</p><p>"Weeks ago?" Thor asked, surprised.</p><p>"Yes," Loki confirmed.</p><p>"I just got here," Thor said.</p><p>"Time works differently between worlds," Vanitas reminded his blonde friend. "It's only been like, two months for us since the Sokovia incident."</p><p>"What are you all whispering about?" the Grandmaster whispered, jumping right into the conversation.</p><p>Thor, Sora, and Goofy exclaimed in surprise at the man's intrusion, and Loki immediately stepped away from them.</p><p>"Like Vantias there said, time works real different around these parts," the Grandmaster said. Vanitas was a little happy when he saw Loki about to start to correct the Grandmaster, but decided against it. "On any other world, I'd be, like, millions of years old. But here on Sakaar..."</p><p>He trailed off as he realized he didn't have a good enough answer. Loki, Thor, Sora, Vanitas, Donald, Goofy, and even Stitch shared confused looks as the man still didn't say anything.</p><p>"In any case, you know this, uh..." the Grandmaster chuckled as he gestured to Thor. "You call yourself Lord of Thunder? And his friends?"</p><p>"God of Thunder," Thor corrected the Grandmaster. He looked at Loki. "Tell him."</p><p>"I've never met this man before in my life," Loki smirked, looking at the Grandmaster. "Or these knaves."</p><p>"He's my brother," Thor snapped, looking at the Grandmaster.</p><p>"We kicked his ass once," Vanitas announced.</p><p>"Adopted," Loki added. "And I let them win."</p><p>"Sure, you did," Sora commented.</p><p>"Are these ones any kind of fighters?" the Grandmaster asked.</p><p>Thor laughed.</p><p>"You take these things out of our necks and we'll show you," he announced.</p><p>"Now, listen to that," the Grandmaster smirked, adjusting the collar of his robe. "He's threatening me."</p><p>"He's not the only one," Vanitas added. "Or were you not listening back there when I said I was gonna rip your head off with my bare hands?"</p><p>"I'd hold you down so he can do it much more easily," Sora said.</p><p>"Hey, Sparkles, weird hair, bruised face, here's the deal," the Grandmaster said, with Sora and Vanitas frowning in confusion at the nicknames they were given. "If you wanna get back to Ass-place, Assberg..."</p><p>"Asgard!" Thor snapped.</p><p>"Any contender who defeats my champion, their freedom they shall win," the Grandmaster announced. "If the three of you can defeat him..."</p><p>"We get our freedoms and the freedoms of our friends," Sora quickly announced.</p><p>"That includes these two, and him," Vanitas said, gesturing with his still bound hands at Donald and Goofy, then at Stitch.</p><p>"Sounds like a deal," the Grandmaster commented.</p><p>"Fine," Thor said in annoyance. "Then point us in the direction of whoever's ass we have to kick!"</p><p>"We'll take him!" Sora announced with a determined expression.</p><p>"I'll punt him through a wall!" Vanitas announced.</p><p>"They'll do it!" Goofy told the Grandmaster.</p><p>"Especially V!" Donald added.</p><p>"Thats what I call, contenders," the Grandmaster commented with a smile. He picked up his device. "Direction would be this way, Lord and Bladekey wielders."</p><p>"Keyblade!" Sora corrected the Grandmaster as their chairs started sliding forwards again.</p><p>"Ah!" Thor exclaimed in slight surprise. "Loki!"</p><p>The group were led out of the chamber and out of the chairs, but were then carried by guards down another hallway and literally thrown into a room, where they landed roughly on the ground, some of them on top of the other. Thor landed first, Sora fell on top of him, Vanitas fell on top of Sora, Goofy fell on top of Vanitas, and Donald fell on top of Goofy. The door slid shut behind them as the guards closed it.</p><p>"My friends?" Thor asked.</p><p>"Yes?" Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy asked in unison.</p><p>"Do not take this the wrong way," Thor requested. "But get off."</p><p>"Sorry," Sora said as the Gummi quartet slowly got off of the blonde.</p><p>Once they were off, Thor ran up to the door and tried punching it, to no avail.</p><p>"You're not the Fonz, man," Vanitas commented. "Door's don't work like that."</p><p>The Gummi quartet looked around the prison cell they were locked in. It was a long hallway designed to make it clear it was supposed to be a gigantic circle. There were doodles scratched into the walls, some of which Vanitas recognized as part of the tell tale prison part of going insane. Various aliens were in the room, with three unidentifiable aliens resting against the lower wall, and a large rock creature with brown leather straps of armor on his forearms, calves, and the left side of his chest. Vanitas felt a little awkward looking at that alien since the last time he had seen one of its kind, he had blown it up with a rocket launcher.</p><p>Thor ignored the cell they were locked in and kept ramming his fist into the cell door, trying to see if he could break through.</p><p>"Hey, hey, hey," the rock alien said in a voice none of the group were expecting. "Take it easy, man."</p><p>Thor looked over his shoulder at the alien, seeing that there was also a purple creature similar to a slug with lots of arms in a suit of armor with blades on the end of each of the long arms.</p><p>"Over here," the rock alien said, raising a hand. "The pile of rocks waving at you. Here. Yeah, I'm actually a thing. I'm a being."</p><p>"Yeah, blondie here and I have already met a member of your species before," Vanitas admitted. "I couldn't tell what its gender was, but it tried to kill him."</p><p>"Well, I promise you we're not all like that," the rock alien said with genuine sincerity in his voice. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Korg. I'm kind of like the leader in here. I'm made of rocks, as you can see. But don't let that intimidate you."</p><p>He started to stand up, with the purple alien in the suit standing up next to him.</p><p>"You don't need to be afraid unless you're made of scissors," Korg chuckled at his own joke as the alien next to him raised its bladed hands next to each other in emphasis. Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy couldn't stop themselves from letting out chuckles at his joke. "Just a little rock-paper-scissor joke for you."</p><p>"It wasn't bad," Sora admitted with a smile.</p><p>"This is my very good friend over here, Miek," Korg said, gesturing to the alien in the suit, who had raised his bladed hand. "He's an insect and has knives for hands."</p><p>"I'm Sora," Sora said as Miek waved around his knived hands to show off.</p><p>"Donald," Donald added.</p><p>"Goofy," Goofy said, waving at the two. "Nice to meet ya, Korg and Miek."</p><p>"I'm Vanitas," Vanitas said. "V for short."</p><p>"You're a Kronan, aren't you?" Thor asked.</p><p>"That I am," Korg confirmed, walking up to Thor.</p><p>"How'd you end up in here?" Thor asked as him, the Gummi quartet, and Korg started walking down the hallway.</p><p>"Ah, well, I tried to start a revolution, but didn't print enough pamphlets," Korg explained as Thor examined the walls around them. "So, hardly anyone turned up, except for my mum and her boyfriend, who I hate."</p><p>Thor and Vanitas quickly realized that they had ended up passing the door again after just twelve seconds of walking, so Thor started moving a little faster.</p><p>"As punishment, I was forced to be in here and become a gladiator," Korg continued. "Bit of a promotional disaster, that one."</p><p>Thor started running forwards as Korg continued talking, confusing Donald and Goofy, while Sora slowly started to put things together.</p><p>"But I'm actually organizing another revolution," Korg continued explaining. Thor disappeared around the loop in front of the group, and ended up almost immediately running out behind them. "I don't know if you guys'd be interested in something like that. Do you guys reckon you'd be interested."</p><p>Thor met back up with the group, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy finished putting together the pieces.</p><p>"How did you..." Thor started, gesturing with his hand in confusion.</p><p>"Ah, yeah, no," Korg confirmed. "The whole thing is a circle. But not a real circle, more like a freaky circle."</p><p>"No wonder these guys did the usual crazy writing on the walls," Vanitas commented, gesturing to the walls.</p><p>"I'm like seconds away from adding more," Donald commented, looking around with a bit of fear in his voice.</p><p>"This doesn't make any sense," Thor said.</p><p>"No, nothing makes sense here, man," Korg agreed. "The only thing that does make sense is that nothing makes sense."</p><p>"That explains how they were able to nullify my powers," Vanitas commented. "I already tried teleporting through the door and using my telekinesis to open it. I was fine throughout the rest of the building, but this room specifically is fucking me up royally."</p><p>"Something tells me the rest of us are like that, too," Sora commented.</p><p>He held out his hand and tried summoning his Keyblade, but the light never flared to bring out the magical weapon.</p><p>"Looks like we're trapped here until we can fight that guy," Sora commented.</p><p>"Speaking of which, has anyone ever fought the Grandmaster's champion?" Thor asked Korg.</p><p>"Doug has," Korg said, gesturing to one of the bodies laying on the ground nearby. "Our luck, Doug's dead. That's right. Everyone who fights the Grandmaster's champion perishes."</p><p>"What about you?" Thor asked. "You're made of rocks."</p><p>"Don't you remember what happened to that Kronan we fought?" Vanitas asked. "I blew it up." He looked at Korg with a sorry expression. "No offense."</p><p>"None taken, it<em> did</em> try to kill your friend," Korg said. "Like he said, perishable rock." A smaller rock fell of his chest and down to the floor. "There you go. Another one gone."</p><p>Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy winced at that.</p><p>"Yeah, no, I just do the smaller fights, warm up the crowd and whatnot," Korg admitted. "Wait, wait. You're not gonna face him, are you?"</p><p>"The three of us are," Thor said, gesturing to himself, Sora, and Vanitas. "Gonna fight him, win, and get us and our friends the hell out of this place."</p><p>"That's exactly what Doug used to say," Korg commented. He waved at Thor. "See you later, new Doug."</p><p>"We should probably catch up a bit," Vanitas explained as the Gummi quartet walked with Thor down the hallway. "We don't know what you've been up to since Sokovia, and you don't know what we've been up to."</p><p>"Fair point," Thor admitted, preparing his story while the Gummi quartet did the same with their own story...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 You gotta admit, with how Valkyrie was in the first half of the movie, that could be interpreted as in character for her</p><p>*2 Like I said, V really shouldn't have jinxed himself last chapter</p><p>*3 Little reference to how I used to originally plan out this Add In A Character stuff. The original way I did it was speaking for my characters to give them reactions in various movies or tv shows I used to watch. But I would add so much dialogue for them that it would take them pretty far out of the original concept of the show or movie</p><p>I'm liking how WandaVision is turning out so far. Made me laugh a bunch, and has me interested in whatever the hell is going on. That's another one I'm gonna try to incorporate characters into, as well. But I won't be starting that until the season ends. Partly 'cause I still have about three or four more stories to finish until these characters are at that point</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. "Piss Off, Ghost!"</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Hela shows her posse the throne room, while the Gummi quartet catches up with Thor</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Back on Asgard, Hela managed to take out the army waiting for her in the throne room as easily as she had taken out all the soldiers outside in the courtyard. She led the way through the dead bodies on the ground and across the gigantic hallway to the large throne at the end of the room, with Skurge, Maleficent, and Pete following closely behind. Pete made sure he skirted around the bodies since he didn't like being this close to dead people.</p>
<p>"Does no one remember me?" Hela asked Skurge as they passed the bodies on the floor. They stopped in front of the throne as Hela looked up at the ceiling. "Has no one been taught our history?"</p>
<p>Skurge, Pete, and Maleficent followed her gaze up to the large domed ceiling above them, giving them a good view of the ornate paintings high above them. In the center was the castle at a distance, with paintings showing different events of the city's history, like Odin making peace with Laufey, and a ceremony with Thor, Loki, Odin, and Frigga.</p>
<p>"Look at these lies," Hela snapped with venom in her voice. "Goblets and garden parties? Peace treaties? Odin, proud to have it... ashamed of how he got it."</p>
<p>She then started throwing swords up at the ceiling, surprising Pete and Skurge while Maleficent laughed as the swords stabbed themselves into the ceramic ceiling, quickly making cracks appear along the rounded ceramic. Pete and Skurge stepped back while Maleficent stepped up next to Hela, watching as even more cracks spread across the ceiling. Within just a few seconds, the ceiling fell down to the floor, raining ceramic and dust around the group. Skurge and Pete stepped back in surprise while Maleficent and Hela kept staring up at the ceiling as all the remains of the ceramic hit the floor.</p>
<p>With all of the initial ceramic gone, the group looked up at the ceiling that was hidden from that original ceramic, showing a much darker image. The center of the painting showed Odin with a wicked looking helmet, much like the one Hela had worn just moments earlier. Around the center circle was red, possibly depicting fire or blood, along with various paintings of him and Hela charging against armies, Odin on his eight legged horse, Sleipnir, and Hela riding on a large, grey wolf with green eyes. There was even one with Hela holding up Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, in victory.</p>
<p>Skurge and Pete looked up in surprise at the paintings over them, Pete not exactly understanding the point of them, while Skurge's jaw was dropped at the sight, since this wasn't something he had known about Asgard before.</p>
<p>"We were unstoppable," Hela announced. "I was his weapon in the conquest that built Asgard's empire. One by one, the realms became ours. But then, simply because my ambition outgrew his, he banished me, caged me, locked me away like an animal."</p>
<p>"And people say <em>we're</em> evil," Maleficent commented, chuckling inwards.</p>
<p>"Before that, Asgard's warriors were were honored, their bodies buried beneath this very palace," Hela told her allies.</p>
<p>She then led the way down a nearby hallway, taking them down a large set of stairs into a large hallway with various objects on either side on stands.</p>
<p>"Odin's treasures," Skurge said, amazement in his voice as he and Pete trailed behind the women.</p>
<p>"Wow-wee!" Pete said, also in amazement.</p>
<p>"Fake," Hela announced, blandly, before pushing a large, right handed, golden gauntlet off of a stand, making it fall to the ground with a large clatter. "Most of the stuff in here is fake."</p>
<p>"Shame," Maleficent commented, looking down at the apparently fake Infinity gauntlet. "That would have been useful if Thanos tried opposing me." <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"Relax," Hela assured her fellow villainess. "If that jewel obsessed moron comes around, he shall fall quickly at my hands."</p>
<p>She looked around the treasure room.</p>
<p>"Nothing around here would help, anyway," Hela commented as she started walking forwards. "The gauntlet is fake. That one's weak."</p>
<p>She shot that insult at the Jotun casket sitting on a stand on her left.</p>
<p>Stepping next to Suter's crown, Hela commented, "Smaller than I thought it'd be."</p>
<p>She soon stepped up to the Tesseract.</p>
<p>"That's not bad," Hela admitted, pointing down at the glowing blue cube. She looked forwards and gasped. "But this..."</p>
<p>She stepped up to a large stand holding up a circular pit, which had fire burning brightly within.</p>
<p>"The Eternal Flame," Hela announced with an actually amazed voice.</p>
<p>She held out a hand into the fire and pulled it back, raising up a ball of fire within her palm. Skurge, Pete, and Maleficent watched, Skurge and Pete in confusion and Maleficent with a smile, as Hela stepped to the center of the room and created a hammer in her right hand. She gripped it in both hands and rammed the mallet into the floor in front of her, making a large hole that led down into a gigantic chamber with three strikes. Once she was done doing that, she tossed aside the hammer and looked at her allies, all while the flame still burned in the palm of her left hand.</p>
<p>"Want to see what true power really looks like?" Hela asked.</p>
<p>Maleficent smirked and nodded her head while the boys continued staring at her in confusion. Hela leaned back and fell down through the hole. The other three stepped up to the edge and watched as she continued to fall down to the ground far below them, doing a couple of flips before landing on her hands and knees.</p>
<p>Hela stood up in the gigantic tomb, using the burning flame in her hand to light the room, letting her see the dozens, possibly hundreds of suits of armor laid down around her, lining the floor and the walls. She walked past the armored skeletons to the center of the room, and her eyes were quickly drawn to the skeleton of a gigantic wolf that still had some of its fur attached.</p>
<p>"Fenris, my darling, what have they done to you?" Hela asked in despair. "With the Eternal Flame, you are reborn."</p>
<p>She slammed the palm of her hand with the fire into the ground, sending out green smoke through the entirety of the chamber. Green light appeared in the skeletons' eyes and rib cages, bringing them back to life as undead soldiers. The soldiers all started standing up and taking out their swords, prepared to serve Hela whenever she desired.</p>
<p>"I've missed you," Hela said, holding out her arms on each side as Fenris the Wolf stepped up in front of her and growled in preparation. "I've missed you all."</p>
<p>Maleficent smirked at the army below them, while Pete muttered in fear at the sight of the skeletons.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Meanwhile, on Sakaar, the Gummi quartet and Thor shared stories about what they had gone through since the last time they saw each other. Vanitas, Sora, Donald, and Goofy explained how after taking a short break, they had gone on to try to find the lost Keyblade Wielders, who they were gonna need in the conquest against Xehanort.</p>
<p>"Turns out my dad being the Greek god of war is why I tried to kill you when we first met," Vanitas admitted. "He's a little obsessed with going to battle, and when I saw you, the war tendencies took over as it recognized the armor, and I wanted to destroy you. Sorry again about that, man." <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"It is all right, friend V," Thor assured Vanitas before looking at Sora. "If you're looking for Vanitas's old friends, then why did you come find me?"</p>
<p>"We wanted to try to learn more about that Master of Masters guy you mentioned," Sora explained. "He's apparently still alive. At least, alive enough to guide Xehanort eighty-five years ago into his conquest. You said there were old legends about him on Asgard?"</p>
<p>"Yes, the legends go back who knows how long," Thor agreed. "But we might have some difficulty reaching the library to get to the records."</p>
<p>"Why?" Donald asked in confusion.</p>
<p>Thor then started sharing what he had been through since the last time they met. It had been two years for him, which he had spent relentlessly searching for the person behind the Infinity Stones' appearances, during which he and Jane had broken up.</p>
<p>"We completely forgot to tell you!" Goofy admitted with an embarrassed expression.</p>
<p>"We kind of already knew who was after the Stones," Donald admitted.</p>
<p>Thor frowned in confusion.</p>
<p>"A warlord called Thanos," Sora said. "His official title is 'The Mad Titan'."</p>
<p>"He's the one who tortured Loki and sent him to Earth with the staff with the Mind Stone," Vanitas explained. "If Loki got him the Tesseract, the Space Stone, and brought back the Mind Stone, he was free to rule over Earth. The fear over the full range of this guy's army was why Loki never mentioned him before."</p>
<p>"We ended up learning about what the guy's up to when we helped his adopted daughter and a group called the Guardians of the Galaxy assure the safety of the Power Stone," Donald said.</p>
<p>"You couldn't have remembered all this before I wasted two years searching for this Thanos?" Thor commented.</p>
<p>"Sorry," Sora said with a genuinely sorry voice. "And I'm really sorry about Jane. I don't get it, you guys were so good together!"</p>
<p>"Well, that's just life," Thor assured Sora with a small smile. "Things like this just happen, and, there's no way of explaining it."</p>
<p>Vanitas frowned.</p>
<p>"You forgot to take my advice and visit her frequently during those two years, didn't you?" he asked.</p>
<p>Thor looked at Vanitas and kept smiling, chuckling a bit.</p>
<p>"...Yes," he eventually admitted, dropping his smile.</p>
<p>"Listen to me next time," Vanitas commented, patting Thor on the shoulder. "Trust me, I'm smarter than I appear."</p>
<p>Thor then continued to tell them about how he had taken out Surtur, bringing his crown back to Asgard to discover Heimdall had been fired, and that Odin was really Loki in disguise, having faked his death again and putting the old man in a resting home on Earth. With help from Stephen Strange (Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy chuckled as they remembered the sorcerer that had helped Vanitas), the brothers found their father in Norway, who told them about their sister Hela before passing away naturally. Then Hela appeared, destroyed Mjölnir, and when Fandral tried bringing them back in the Bifrost, Hela entered and threw them out, causing the brothers to crash on Sakaar while she went to Asgard.</p>
<p>"I can only imagine what horrors she plans on unleashing on the people," Thor said, worry in his voice.</p>
<p>Vanitas placed his fingers to his temple and tried reaching out to see what was going on there. He exclaimed in surprise as he watched Hela easily murder Fandral and Volstagg, immediately saddening him. Maleficent and Pete then arrived as part of an arrangement with Hela, and then the goddess easily took out Asgard's army facing her, impaling Hogun with a large spike before she, Maleficent and Pete, and a soldier named Skurge continued to the palace.</p>
<p>"Well, she took out Asgard's army herself, so she's probably not bringing the people cookies," Vanitas commented with a little bit of fear in his voice. "Oh, and Maleficent and Pete are with her."</p>
<p>"Of freaking course," Donald commented, sighing out in annoyance and resting his head in his hand.</p>
<p>They spent the next few minutes in silence as Sora and Vanitas contemplated their upcoming battle with the Grandmaster's champion.</p>
<p>"Odin," Thor eventually whispered, kneeling in front of the wall. "I bid you take your place in the halls of Valhalla, where the brave shall live forever. Nor shall we mourn, but rejoice, for those that have died..."</p>
<p>"The glorious death," Thor finished in unison with Loki.</p>
<p>Thor slowly turned around and leaned back against the wall, looking at Loki on the opposite side of the hallway. The Gummi quartet frowned at the Jotun, especially Vanitas, since he took what happened earlier as a betrayal.</p>
<p>"Hurts, doesn't it?" Loki asked, making a sympathetic face. "Being lied to. Being told you're one thing and then learning it's all fiction."</p>
<p>"How does this at all apply to what happened to you?" Donald asked, angrily.</p>
<p>"Loki was lied to, not knowing he was a Jotun," Vanitas reminded Donald. "Thor was lied to into thinking he was firstborn, the rightful eventual ruler of Asgard and the only one worthy of Mjölnir. But he just learned that that wasn't true because of his sister, Hela."</p>
<p>"Oh," Donald said in understanding.</p>
<p>Vanitas frowned in thought.</p>
<p>"You know, in the myths, her name is just Hel, and she's <em>your</em> daughter," Vanitas commented, pointing at Loki.</p>
<p>"Really?" Loki asked, frowning in surprise and confusion.</p>
<p>"Yeah, a lot of the myths got lost in translation, or some shit," Vanitas said. "Like that one I mentioned about the horse? They said that you used your shape shifting abilities to the max and mothered Odin's horse, Sleipnir."</p>
<p>"Don't you mean fathered?" Loki asked.</p>
<p>"Nope," Vanitas said, shaking his head with slightly raised eyebrows.</p>
<p>Vanitas didn't think it was possible to raise your widen your eyes while frowning, but Loki did it. Which made sense. What other reaction was there to learning on some random world people thought you turned into a female horse and gave birth to an eight legged horse?</p>
<p>Thor picked up a small rock from off the ground nearby and tossed it at Loki, but it passed through his stomach with a green light, making the trickster chuckle.</p>
<p>"You didn't really think I'd come and see you, did you?" the image of Loki asked. "This place is disgusting."</p>
<p>Thor said nothing, keeping his face impassive as he picked up another rock and threw it through the image. The image sighed out and lowered his arms.</p>
<p>"Does this mean you don't want my help?" Loki asked through his image.</p>
<p>"Not really," Sora commented.</p>
<p>"Look, I couldn't jeopardize my position with the Grandmaster," Loki explained while Thor picked up another rock, tossed it up, and caught it. "It took me time to win his trust. He's a lunatic, but he can be amendable." During his next words, Thor threw another rock through the image. "What I'm telling you is, you could join me at the Grandmaster's side. Perhaps, in time, an accident befalls the Grandmaster, and then..."</p>
<p>Thor smirked as he realized where Loki was going with this. He then even mouthed to Thor, "You and Me," gesturing with his hands to emphasize that they'd rule together.</p>
<p>"Is ruling all you care about, Loki?" Goofy asked.</p>
<p>"Seems like that's all you're after," Vanitas added.</p>
<p>Thor threw another rock, this one passing through a disappointed Loki's face.</p>
<p>"You're not seriously thinking about going back, are you?" Loki asked.</p>
<p>"Hell, yeah," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"We're not letting Hela terrorize Asgard," Sora told their old enemy.</p>
<p>"Our sister destroyed your hammer like a piece of glass," Loki reminded Thor. He looked at Sora and Vanitas. "The two of you have experience, but so does she, and much more of it than either of you." He looked at Thor again. "She's stronger than both of us. She's stronger than you. You don't stand a chance. Do any of you understand what I'm saying to you?"</p>
<p>Thor continued staring at Loki blankly, not giving even the slightest bout of emotion. This made it clear that he understood Loki's words, but just didn't care. Loki scoffed and smirked.</p>
<p>"Fine," he relented. "I guess I'll just have to do it alone. Like I've always done." Thor smirked but still didn't speak. "Would you say something?" Thor was still silent. "Say something!"</p>
<p>"What would you like me to say?" Thor softly asked. "You faked your own death, you stole the throne, stripped Odin of his power, stranded him on Earth to die, releasing the Goddess of Death. Have I said enough, or would you like me to go back further than the past two days?"</p>
<p>"Wait, was that you that wouldn't let me hide Roxas, Xion, and Axel back when I was asking just a few months ago?" Vanitas asked, frowning in realization.</p>
<p>"Ditto," Loki said, glancing at Vanitas before looking at Thor. "You know, I haven't seen this beloved champion he talks of, but I've heard he is astonishingly savage. I've placed a large wager against you three tomorrow. Don't let me down."</p>
<p>Thor grabbed an empty beer bottle from the ground and threw it at the image as it was disappearing, making it shatter on the wall, dropping the shards of glass to the ground.</p>
<p>Then Korg ran out from nowhere and charged to where Loki was standing.</p>
<p>"Piss off, ghost!" he announced, kicking the wall that the image was before. Miek ran out to join him. "He's freaking gone."</p>
<p>"I like him," Vanitas smirked.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The next day, Thor, Vanitas, and Sora were brought to the preparation part of the arena, where they were held behind an electric fence to prepare whatever weapons they desired to use. Sora and Vanitas wouldn't need any since Sora had his Keyblade, and no one felt the need to take away Vanitas's sling. But Thor kept searching among the swords, mallets, spears, and axes to see what he'd prefer. Korg was next to him while various other warriors went around to prepare their own weapons. Donald and Goofy were watching from the side of the room since they wouldn't be participating, while various people went through what looked like shops on the other side of the fence.</p>
<p>"That's gotta be some kind of torture for us," Vanitas commented. "Having us in here watching as people could go around freely and buy whatever they wanted."</p>
<p>"Oh, yuck!" Korg commented, holding a weird looking staff in his hand. "There's still someone's hair and blood all over this. Guys, can you clean up the weapons once you finish your fight? Disgusting slobs."</p>
<p>"Even I know to do that once you're done using something," Sora commented.</p>
<p>"Oh, Thor," Korg said, getting the blonde's attention. Korg held a three pronged spear in his hands. "Wanna use a big, wooden fork?"</p>
<p>"No," Thor said, holding a weird looking blade in his hands.</p>
<p>"Yeah, not really useful," Korg admitted. "Unless you're fighting off three vampires that were huddled together."</p>
<p>"Vampires don't really do that that often," Vanitas said. "Trust me, I'm speaking from experience."</p>
<p>"I really wish I had my hammer," Thor admitted, observing the sword he was holding.</p>
<p>"Hammer?" Korg asked.</p>
<p>"Oh, yeah, you should have seen that thing," Sora said.</p>
<p>"Quite unique," Thor said. "It was made from this special metal from the heart of a dying star."</p>
<p>"You know Uru is actually pretty easy to find," Vanitas commented. "Well, when you know where to look for it."</p>
<p>"And when I spun it really, really fast, it gave me the ability to fly," Thor told Korg with a smile.</p>
<p>"You rode a hammer?" Korg asked.</p>
<p>"No, I didn't ride the hammer," Thor corrected the living rocks.</p>
<p>"The hammer rode you on your back?" Korg asked.</p>
<p>"No, no, no," Thor corrected Korg again. "I used to spin it really fast, so then it would pull me off the..." He gestured with the sword, pointing it up in the air.</p>
<p>"Oh, my God," Korg commented. "A hammer pulled you off?"</p>
<p>"The ground," Thor corrected Korg. "It would pull me off the ground, up into the air, and I would fly."</p>
<p>"So, yeah, he rode his hammer," Vanitas assessed.</p>
<p>"I guess," Thor admitted, looking down at the sword in his hand. "Every time I threw it, it would always come back to me."</p>
<p>He gestured catching Mjölnir with the sword.</p>
<p>"It was always awesome," Sora commented.</p>
<p>"Sounds like you had a pretty special and intimate relationship with this hammer..." Korg commented. "And that losing it was almost comparable to losing a loved one."</p>
<p>"That's a nice way of putting it," Thor replied.</p>
<p>"And a very smart way of putting it," Vanitas commented. "Are you a psychiatrist?"</p>
<p>Their attentions were soon drawn to Scrapper 142's voice announcing, "I said they're mine."</p>
<p>Sora, Vanitas, and Thor followed the sound to see the woman at a bar, resting against it as she looked at the man behind it, clearly demanding some kind of alcohol. The trio walked up to Thor as they looked at her, Sora and Thor in contemplation, and Vanitas in anger.</p>
<p>"See her, that's the one that put us in here," Thor said, pointing at the woman.</p>
<p>"Oh, yeah," Korg said. "Scrapper 142. Gotta watch out for those Asgardians, man."</p>
<p>They quickly looked at Korg in realization, with Vanitas stopping from announcing that he was gonna kill Scrapper 142.</p>
<p>"They are hard to perish," Korg finished as the trio looked at him in surprise.</p>
<p>"Asgardian?" Thor asked, looking at Scrapper 142 again.</p>
<p>"Okay, maybe I won't kill her," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>The trio pushed through the crowds around them to the electric fence to look at Scrapper 142 better, while she opened a beer bottle that released fire up.</p>
<p>"I've seen flaming shots, but that's a whole 'nother level," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"Hey," Thor called out as they got closer to the fence, trying to get the woman's attention. "Hey."</p>
<p>Scrapper 142 looked at the trio and took out the device from earlier, holding it up to emphasize her point as she said, "Hey."</p>
<p>Vanitas wanted to use his telekinesis to pull it out of the air, but he was pretty sure the guards around them would just take it back and punish him by zapping him a lot more, and he didn't want that to happen. Neither did Thor or Sora, so they stopped quickly.</p>
<p>"Do <em>not</em> zap me with that thing," Thor demanded, pointing at Scrapper 142. "We just wanna talk."</p>
<p>Scrapper 142 placed the device down and looked at Thor.</p>
<p>"Asgard is in danger," Thor tried pleading.</p>
<p>Scrapper 142 ignored Thor and blew out the fire, taking a swing of the bottle of alcohol. With her left arm raised up, the trio were able to catch a glimpse of a tattoo on her left forearm, and Thor and Vanitas's eyes widened as they recognized it.</p>
<p>"My God, you're a Valkyrie," Thor assessed, looking at Scrapper 142 in amazement.</p>
<p>"A what?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"A group of female warriors banded together to fight for justice," Vanitas said with a smile. "They're sort of the Norse equivalent of those Hunters of Artemis I told you about."</p>
<p>"Whoa," Sora said, his eyes widened in amazement as he looked from Sora to Scrapper 142.</p>
<p>"I used to want to be a Valkyrie when I was younger," Thor admitted as Scrapper 142 put down the empty bottle and walked over to a bar that looked like a large, blue engine an android stood behind. "Until I found out you were all women. There's nothing wrong with women, of course. I love women."</p>
<p>Scrapper 142 tossed the android a coin as she stopped in front of the engine looking thing.</p>
<p>"Sometimes a little too much," Thor admitted with a chuckle. "Not in a creepy way, just more of a respectable appreciation." Scrapper 142 took a six pack of cans as long as forearms, but looked at Thor in annoyance. "I think it's great that there's an elite force of women warriors. It's about time."</p>
<p>Thor smiled at Scrapper 142 and gave her a thumbs up.</p>
<p>"You about done?" she asked in annoyance.</p>
<p>"Lord of Thunder and friends, you're up!" a warden yelled nearby, getting the trio's attentions.</p>
<p>"Please, help us," Thor begged. "We need your help."</p>
<p>"I even won't kill you," Vanitas said, hoping his voice sounded desperate enough.</p>
<p>"Bye," Scrapper 142 said bluntly, waving goodbye as she started walking away from the fence.</p>
<p>"Fine, then you must be a traitor or a coward," Thor snapped, stopping her in her tracks. "Because a Valkyrie is sworn to protect the throne."</p>
<p>"I don't think pissing her off is gonna help us," Vanitas muttered to Thor, and Sora nodded in agreement.</p>
<p>"Listen closely, your majesty," Scrapper 142 snapped, walking up to the fence to look at the three. "This is Sakaar, not Asgard. And I'm a Scrapper, not a Valkyrie."</p>
<p>The warden and guards walked up to the trio, and Sora and Vanitas decided to take the easy route and let the guards grab them by their arms. But Thor resisted and pushed the man away from him. He ended up getting the expected consequence when the warden electrocuted him so bad he fell to the ground.</p>
<p>"Bring them in for processing," the warden announced.</p>
<p>"And no one escapes this place," Scrapper 142 added as Thor was picked up by guards. "So you're gonna die, anyway."</p>
<p>"I think I'm gonna change my mind," Vanitas commented as the guards led the trio across the room.</p>
<p>Thor was dragged across the floor and watched as Scrapper 142 walked out of sight. He and the other three were dragged to a doorway on the side of the room.</p>
<p>"Good luck, guys!" Goofy called out.</p>
<p>"You're gonna need it!" Donald added.</p>
<p>"Thanks!" Sora said.</p>
<p>"Appreciate it!" Vanitas added as they were pulled through the doorway.</p>
<p>The guards restrained Thor on a metal chair a bit different than the one they had originally been held in. The guards stepped back, but still held back Sora and Vanitas.</p>
<p>"The Grandmaster likes the hair on the both of you, so you can keep yours," the warden told the cousins.</p>
<p>"Wait..." Sora said, quickly realizing what the man was implying.</p>
<p>"Now, don't you move," the nearby barber told Thor. He gestured with his normal hand and his prosthetic hand. "My hands aren't as steady as they used to be.</p>
<p>"By Odin's beard, you shall not cut my hair..." Thor started threatening the barber. "...lest you feel the wrath of the mighty Thor."</p>
<p>The barber ignored him and pressed a button on his wrist gadget, making a bunch of blades appear and start spinning.</p>
<p>"Uh, Stan Lee?" Vanitas said as he and Sora watched with wide eyes, afraid for their friend. "Maybe just skip this one."</p>
<p>The barber ignored him and started to raise the blades.</p>
<p>"Please," Thor begged. "Please, kind sir, do not cut my hair."</p>
<p>"Yeah, it's so majestic and beautiful!" Sora begged, gesturing to Thor's hair.</p>
<p>"He even has a strand of his brother's woven into the side after he thought he was dead," Vanitas added, gesturing to Thor's hair with just as much desperation.</p>
<p>"Wait, really?" Sora asked, looking at his cousin. "I never noticed that before." <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<p>The barber ignored them all and laughed. Sora and Vanitas winced as they realized there was nothing they could do.</p>
<p>"Please!" Thor begged again. "No! No-o-o!"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 Did any one of you guys ever play the Sly Cooper games as a kid? It's a series where you play a raccoon thief who steals things with his friends, a smart turtle, and a strong turtle. The final boss of the first game was a giant, robotic owl named Clockwerk, who got broken up into pieces in the battle in a volcano (this was a kid's game in 2002, they did all the stereotypes). In the sequel, they have to try to steal back all the pieces so they can destroy them so Clockwerk can never be reassembled and brought back. The entirety of the game builds up to the fact that obviously, Clockwerk is gonna get reassembled, and you're gonna have to fight him again. But throughout the game, just the hype building up for Clockwerk ends up helping express just how dangerous the guy is. I feel like what I've been doing with this series, slowly building up the hype for the eventual battle with Thanos in these stories, making him the Clockwerk of my series.</p>
<p>...Just something that popped into my head</p>
<p>*2 Finally, I get to explain that. I've been ready to reveal it for a year now, pretty much since I wrote that first chapter. 'Cause you gotta figure, being the child of a literal god of war, there's gonna be moments where you just look for any reason to start a fight</p>
<p>*3 I remember, when I saw that trailer and saw that they cut Thor's hair, I was sad because I really liked it when guys had long hair at the time. But I grew used to it over time. Also, I never noticed that part of Thor having a lock of Loki's hair strewn into his own in remembrance until I saw a fact Instagram post. When he's looking to the right and you see the left side of his head, you can actually see it a little clearly</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. A Friend From Work</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Thor, Sora, and Vanitas take on the Grandmaster's champion</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Throughout the entirety of the arena, excitement was buzzing from the anticipation alone from the upcoming battle, entirely because it involved the Grandmaster's champion. The seats were filled in all the stands, reaching up possibly miles into the sky, while various ships flew around over the top of the circular arena, using lights to help give themselves a better view of the fight.</p><p>Drones flew down towards the arena floor and sent out lights, which helped construct a gigantic, holographic image of the Grandmaster that reached as high as the top stands.</p><p>"<em>Wow! </em>" the Grandmaster exclaimed with a smile through his image. "<em>Look at all of you.</em>" He chuckled and clapped his hands as he turned to view the audience better. "<em>What a show. What a night. Who's having fun? </em>"</p><p>The audience cheered at the image of the man.</p><p>Donald and Goofy had unimpressed expressions as they stood with Korg, staring out the small window with bars provided to them that gave them a great view of the arena, even if their heads were pretty close to the floor. Donald was holding onto Goofy's shoulders so that he was high enough to see out the window.</p><p>"This guy's ego knows no bounds," Donald commented.</p><p>"Oh, you have no idea," Korg agreed with an equally annoyed voice.</p><p>"He reminds me of that Daffy Duck feller we met once before the castle was built," Goofy commented, looking at Donald. "Remember? Back when we were on that world just chock full of toons?" <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>Their attentions were drawn back to the Grandmaster as he said in a fake modest voice, "Please, I'm your host."</p><p>"<em>Big round of applause for all of our undercard competitors who today died so gruesomely</em>," the Grandmaster continued as Scrapper 142's ship joined one of the many floating above the arena to watch the fight. "<em>Good sports. What a show! What a night! This is what you've come for, and so have I</em>."</p><p>Other soldiers met up with Donald, Goofy, and Korg as they looked through the rafters they were in to watch the fight. With them stood creatures of different shapes and sizes in different forms of armor, including Meik, and a man with three heads all attached together.</p><p>"I wonder how long it takes that one to brush his teeth," Donald muttered to Goofy, looking from the three headed man to back out through the rafters.</p><p>"And now, without further ado... it's main event time," the Grandmaster continued as Loki entered what was pretty much the VIP section.</p><p>He chuckled as he took a glass of alcohol from an offered waitress. Looking around, Loki's attention was quickly brought to the alien, Stitch, still leashed and tied to the side of the couch that he guessed was the Grandmasters. Loki looked left and right to see if anyone was watching and kneeled down, moving to unlock the leash. But when one of the stewardesses looked towards him, Loki chuckled loudly and instead petted the blue furred alien on the head. Stitch exclaimed his discomfort at the action. Once the stewardess was looking away, he looked down at the alien with a sympathetic expression.</p><p>"This is not a great time," Loki told the alien. "But I'll find a way to get you out of this. I promise." <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>Stitch exclaimed a bit of hope as Loki stood up and looked towards the large image of the Grandmaster.</p><p>"Making their first appearance, though they look quite promising, got a couple of tricks up their sleeves," the Grandmaster continued.</p><p>Far on the arena ground, a large, green door slid open, which slowly started revealing Thor, Vanitas, and Sora.</p><p>"I'll say no more, see what you think," the Grandmaster added. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Lord of Thunder and friends."</p><p>The trio walked out onto the arena floor. Thor's new short hair was down to brown, and red paint made designs on the left of his face and his armor. Swords were strapped onto his back, and he carried a club, shield, and helmet. Sora and Vanitas had the same paint on the same sides of their faces, which Sora did think was kind of cool. Sora was preparing himself to summon his Keyblade while Vanitas carried his sledgehammer in one hand, while his Micro Uzi dangled from the strap on his sling in preparation.</p><p>The crowd booed and shouted at them as they came to a stop in front of the door.</p><p>"Dicks!" Vanitas shouted at the yelling spectators.</p><p>"I'm guessing these guys <em>really</em> like their champion," Sora commented.</p><p>Thor ignored the jeering from the people above them and started walking to the center of the gigantic arena with Sora and Vanitas on either side.</p><p>"<em>Watch out for the tall one's fingers</em>," the Grandmaster quipped. "<em>They make sparks.</em>"</p><p>The trio came to a stop in the center of the room, and Vanitas flipped the Grandmaster the bird as they looked up at him.</p><p>"<em>Okay, this is it,</em>" the Grandmaster announced as he rubbed his hands together. "<em>Let's get ready to welcome this guy. Here he comes.</em>"</p><p>The audience cheered as fireworks went off high above them, releasing lots of green smoke. Vanitas frowned at the familiarity of the shade of green, while Sora and Thor exclaimed in surprise as the entirety of the arena floor started sliding down. The door they had walked through rose up while a new door started revealing itself far in front of them.</p><p>"<em>He is a creature</em>," the Grandmaster announced, hyping up the audience for his champion. "<em>What can we say about him? Well, he's unique. There's none like him</em>."</p><p>Thor set down the club he was holding and reached into his shield for something.</p><p>"Try not to make Steve jealous with that thing," Sora said with a small chuckle before summoning his Kingdom Key.</p><p>"<em>I feel a special connection with him</em>," the Grandmaster continued hyping up his champion.</p><p>Thor pulled out the small device, and a helmet retracted out.</p><p>"<em>He's undefeated</em>," the Grandmaster added as Thor put on the helmet and made the two gears on the side slide down so they were pointing up. "<em>He's the reigning. He's the defending.</em>"</p><p>"Nice job making him look more comic accurate in this one," Vanitas commented as Thor picked up the club. "Especially with the helmet."</p><p>Thor twirled the club in preparation and stood ready. Sora stepped out into his battle stance while Vanitas held his sledgehammer with both hands in preparation.</p><p>"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you..." the Grandmaster announced.</p><p>"Uh, oh," Korg commented.</p><p>"How bad is this guy?" Goofy asked, a little fear in his voice.</p><p>The doors on the far side of the arena started sliding open, and the trio stood ready. Loki smiled widely in anticipation.</p><p>"<em>...Your Incredible...</em>" the Grandmaster continued.</p><p>But then the Grandmaster was interrupted, and the Gummi quartet and Thor's eyes all widened when Hulk burst through the still opening doors. Various bits of armor were around Hulk, white paint went up the right side of his chest and face, and he had a club in one hand and a battle axe in the other.</p><p>Hulk roared out in preparation and bellowed, "Hulk!" in anger.</p><p>Thor's surprise changed from surprise to excitement.</p><p>"Yes!" he yelled.</p><p>"No fucking way!" Vanitas laughed as he stepped out of his fighting stance.</p><p>"Bruce?" Donald and Goofy asked in confused unison.</p><p>"Who?" Korg asked.</p><p>"Our friend, Bruce," Goofy explained. "He has a special condition that lets him turn into that big green, rage monster when he gets angry."</p><p>"That's the Grandmaster's champion," Korg said, looking at the two. "You guys know the Grandmaster's champion?"</p><p>The crowd's excitement died down a bit when Thor and Vanitas started cheering, while Loki's demeanor changed significantly at the sight of the green beast that smashed him into a floor multiple times.</p><p>"I have to get off this planet," he announced with a little bit of fear.</p><p>Loki turned away from the balcony and started to move towards the exit of the VIP section, but quickly ran right into the Grandmaster.</p><p>"Hey, hey, hey," the Grandmaster said in a reasoning voice, trying to get him to stay. "Where you going?"</p><p>Down in the arena, Hulk roared out in preparation for battle as he raised his weapons and looked at the crowds above him. The crowds cheered and chanted Hulk's name as they looked down at their champion.</p><p>"Hey!" Thor called up to the Grandmaster, waving the club in his hand. "Hey! We know each other. He's a friend from work." <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>"We've saved Earth like, four times with him," Sora called out.</p><p>"Plus, I lived with him for a year," Vanitas added. "I know how he ticks!"</p><p>The Grandmaster got a worried expression and looked at Loki, who was sitting on the opposite side of the couch now. Loki cleared his throat and held a hand up to his mouth, doing everything to ignore eye contact with the man.</p><p>The crowd continued chanting Hulk's name, while holding up banners with the guy's face on it.</p><p>"How long has this dude been here?" Vanitas asked, frowning in confusion.</p><p>"Where have you been?" Thor asked with a laugh as he looked at Hulk, who was still roaring as he looked up at the crowds. "Everybody thought you were dead."</p><p>"Cloud mentioned that Fury and Nat were theorizing you ended up in Fiji, wherever that is," Sora announced.</p><p>"He and Fury exclaimed in disgust at the mental image of you in a banana hammock sipping mojitos on a beach," Vanitas laughed.</p><p>"So much has happened since we last saw you," Thor said with a laugh.</p><p>"I got back my memories and am working on getting back my Keyblade," Vanitas said with a smile, while Hulk frowned at them. Vanitas disregarded it since Hulk was always frowning at them.</p><p>"I almost got possessed by a crazy old man," Sora added. "Lost all my powers, and am working on getting 'em back. Turns out, there's three hearts resting in mine, two of which look exactly alike."</p><p>"I lost my hammer," Thor added. "Like, yesterday, so that's still pretty fresh. Loki. Lo-Loki's alive. Can you believe it?" He gestured up to his brother in the rafters with his club. "He's up there."</p><p>Hulk followed the point from the club up to the rafters.</p><p>"He faked his death," Vanitas said. "Twice. I thought we had become friends."</p><p>"Loki!" Thor called to his brother, gesturing to Hulk. "Look who it is!"</p><p>Loki just stared down at them with his jaw dropped.</p><p>"Banner, I-I never thought I would say this, but I'm happy to see you," Thor told Hulk with a genuine smile.</p><p>"It's not Bruce," Vanitas corrected Thor. "It's Hulk."</p><p>To emphasize his point, Hulk's attention was drawn up to the crowds cheering his name again.</p><p>"Banner," Thor called out, trying to get the green man's attention again. "Hey, Banner!"</p><p>"Bruce!" Sora called out. "Can you hear us?"</p><p>"Can you guys hear me?" Vanitas asked, frowning. "I just said he's Hulk."</p><p>"No Banner," Hulk announced, holding up each weapon. "Only Hulk."</p><p>"Uh, I think he's pissed," Vanitas commented, gripping his sledgehammer again.</p><p>"What are you doing?" Thor asked. Hulk growled and started charging forwards. "It's me. It's Thor!"</p><p>"Sora and V!" Sora exclaimed as the three backed up in fear.</p><p>Hulk lunged forwards as he roared, and the trio scattered quickly. Thor held up his shield and club, and Hulk spun around to attack, hitting the weapons with his axe. Thor was launched back from the attack as his weapons shattered, and he skid across the ground across the arena. Sora exclaimed in surprise as he ducked under a swing of Hulk's club, while Vanitas rammed his sledgehammer into Hulk's green back, knowing it wouldn't do too much damage. Hulk swung his weapons again, knocking aside the cousins with the lengths of his weapons.</p><p>Thor managed to recover quickly from his initial attack and took the swords out of the straps on his back, extending them out in preparation. Hulk roared as he held up his weapons, while Sora and Vanitas recovered with Potions. Hulk clanged his club and axe together as he looked at Thor.</p><p>"Banner, we're friends," Thor tried reasoning with Hulk. "This is crazy. I don't want to hurt you!"</p><p>"If you keep calling him 'Banner,' then he's gonna hurt <em>you</em>!" Vanitas commented.</p><p>And he was right. Hulk roared out as he lunged at Thor again, swinging his weapons. Thor deflected each of Hulk's attacks with his sword while Sora and Vanitas Airstepped to Hulk. Thor stepped back as Hulk swung his mallet, which ended up denting his swords to uselessness. Hulk then kicked Thor in the stomach with enough force to knock the Asgardian across the arena, right into part of the wall.</p><p>"Here we go," the Grandmaster commented as the audience cheered. "Here we go."</p><p>"Asshole!" Vanitas exclaimed, lunging onto Hulk's back.</p><p>Vanitas rammed his sledgehammer into Hulk's shoulders and his neck, which he knew wouldn't do a lot of damage. Sora switched to Happy Gear and attacked Hulk with combos and Aero, getting enough energy to start the Form Agile Claws, converting his Keyblade into the gears on his arms and started swinging his fists into Hulk, knocking him around a bit. Hulk roared out and threw the club in his hand at Thor, who ducked as the mallet hit the wall just right over his head. The green giant grabbed Vanitas by his sledgehammer and threw the ravenette into his cousin, knocking them both back.</p><p>Hulk then charged at Thor while holding his axe in both hands. Thor watched his teammate charge at him and jumped up onto the wall, gripping the mallet in his hands. Once Hulk got close enough, Thor pulled the hammer and hit Hulk in the face with it, knocking him very far to the left, making the green giant burst through the wall, taking off lots of ceramic as he got knocked through the arena. Rubble from the wall fell down into the rafters where Korg, Donald, Goofy, and the other warriors were watching.</p><p>Loki watched while still trying to avoid eye contact with the Grandmaster.</p><p>"What?" the Grandmaster asked, confused.</p><p>Even Scrapper 142 was watching with interest, and the audience had gone quiet, muttering to themselves as Sora, Vanitas, and Thor started moving towards their downed friend. Sora made sure to switch to Ever After to save up the energy for Agile Claws. The trio kept walking closer to Hulk as he got into a sitting position in the rubble, accidentally pushing the battle axe aside.</p><p>"Hey, big guy," Thor called out in a reasoning voice. "The sun's getting real low."</p><p>Hulk adjusted his helmet and shook his head, looking down at the trio walking up to him.</p><p>"We think you're awesome, Hulk," Vanitas said. "But we'd like to have a small chat with Bruce."</p><p>"That sun's getting pretty low," Sora added.</p><p>Thor held out a hand for Hulk and started softly shushing the green giant to try to calm him down. Looking at them in a new light, Hulk held out his hand to Thor's own outstretched one.</p><p>"That's it," Thor said in a soft, reasoning voice. "The sun's going down."</p><p>The Grandmaster and Scrapper 142 watched with confused interest as the two's hands connected.</p><p>"We won't hurt you anymore," Thor assured Hulk, holding up his hand. "No one will."</p><p>"We're friends," Sora assured Hulk. "And we don't hurt friends."</p><p>Hulk looked at them with interest, while Thor smiled at the big guy in a way that made Vanitas think he looked like a bunny, with the helmet emphasizing the bunny part. Just when Sora and Thor thought they were getting through to Hulk, the green giant did what Vanitas was expecting and grabbed Thor by the leg roughly.</p><p>"Saw that coming!" Vanitas commented as Hulk went to work.</p><p>Hulk exclaimed as he rammed a wailing Thor into the ground three times before lifting up Thor to look at him, then threw the Asgardian across the arena, causing him to crash into the ground pretty far away.</p><p>"It's just like he did to Loki!" Sora exclaimed, wincing for their friend.</p><p>To emphasize the brunette's point, Loki stood up from the couch in excitement and gestured to the window, exclaiming, "Yes! That's how it feels!"</p><p>The Grandmaster looked at Loki as he chuckled.</p><p>"I'm just a huge fan of the sport," Loki assured the Grandmaster, sitting back down as the man chuckled.</p><p>The audience cheered loudly for Hulk as the green giant roared in victory.</p><p>"Asshole!" Vanitas exclaimed, charging at their teammate with Sora again.</p><p>"We have a limit, prick!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>Thor had reached that same limit. He stood up across the arena and held the mallet in both hands.</p><p>"All right," Thor sighed out. "Screw it."</p><p>Sora and Vanitas were the closest, so they got first crack at the green giant. Sora switched back to Happy Gear and Agile Claws, and attacked Hulk with the various gears, getting enough energy to upgrade it to Twin Yo-Yos. While Sora converted the claws into the large Yo-Yos, Vanitas kicked Hulk in the leg with his enhanced strength, making him exclaim as he fell to the ground again. Vanitas juped up again with his sledgehammer in both hands and hit Hulk right in the helmet with it, causing a loud metal shockwave like sound to reverberate.</p><p>Unfortunately for them, Hulk still had his axe, so he knocked them aside with the flat of the blade with strong swings of the weapon. The cousins exclaimed as they hit the ground, while Thor charged at Hulk with the hammer in both his hands.</p><p>The audience had varying reactions as Thor dodged an axe swing from Hulk and smacked the hammer into Hulk's side, causing the green man to drop. Thor followed it up with a smack to the face, then jumped up to dodge as Hulk swung his axe at him, hitting Hulk in the face with the hammer again, actually amazing the audience. Hulk fell down onto one knee and dropped his axe, which Thor used to his advantage. He swung the mallet into the pole of Hulk's axe, separating the handle from the blades, and sending Hulk reeling.</p><p>"I know you're in there, Banner," Thor exclaimed, walking up to Hulk, who was turning back to face him. "I'll get you out!"</p><p>He swung his hammer into Hulk's stomach, sending the green warrior across the arena again. Hulk roared in anger and stood up again, catching the hammer in Thor's hand as he swung it again. Hulk tossed aside the hammer and tried punching Thor, missing. Thor punched Hulk in the face, knocking him to the ground.</p><p>"What's the matter with you?" Thor demanded. "You're embarrassing me, Sir Sora, and Friend V!"</p><p>"We told them we were friends!" Sora countered, casting Cura on himself to heal from the attack.</p><p>Vanitas threw up a Hi-Potion for himself, and charged at Hulk with his friends, taking out the Micro Uzi. Vanitas fired the Uzi one handed at Hulk while Sora kept Twin Yo-Yos ready. Thor ducked under a punch from Hulk's large fist and did two punches himself to Hulk's stomach before stepping back. Sora started the Finish attack for Twin Yo-Yos, causing the gears to grow and grab Hulk within the giant teeth, knocking around the green giant a bit before tossing him aside onto the ground. The Yo-Yos converted back to Happy Gear, and Thor punched Hulk in the face before twirling around Hulk into a head lock. Thor wrapped his arms around Hulk's neck, but Hulk jumped up and slammed his back and Thor into the ground, getting the Asgardian to loosen his grip. Hulk then rammed his elbows into the ground, getting Thor off completely before rolling off.</p><p>Thor grabbed the hammer that Hulk had dropped and lunged at the green giant again, swinging the weapon. But Hulk caught it easily in his left hand. The entire arena went silent as Hulk slowly moved the hammer aside a bit to look at Thor with a frown. Thor chuckled nervously as Hulk stood right up.</p><p>"Uh, oh," Sora said, a little bit of fear in his voice.</p><p>"You're fucked," Vanitas added.</p><p>Hulk uppercutted Thor with his free hand, sending the Asgardian across the arena again. The crowd cheered as Hulk lunged after Thor and tackled him to the ground, punching him repeatedly. Loki winced as Thor's head was rammed into the ground while the Grandmaster and many others kept laughing. Hulk punched Thor so many times that his helmet got knocked off, and he started seeing images of Odin in a grassy field as power started surging through him.</p><p>That's when Vanitas joined in to attack. He used his telekinesis to throw Hulk back a bit before walking right at the angry, green man.</p><p>"We lived in the same building for a year," Vanitas announced. "You think I don't know how to fuck you up?" <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>Hulk roared out and charged at Vanitas, but he disappeared in a teleport, confusing him a bit.</p><p>'<em>Hey!</em>' Vanitas yelled in Hulk's head.</p><p>Hulk roared out as he twirled around and swung his fist behind his right shoulder blade, but Vanitas appeared from behind Hulk's left, side kicking Hulk in the face before doing a flip to land back on his feet. Vanitas looked up at Hulk as the green giant looked down at him in anger.</p><p>"I've improved greatly, bitch," Vanitas told Hulk.</p><p>Hulk roared at Vanitas and swung his fist at Vanitas, but he disappeared once again with a teleport, reappearing and punching Hulk in the face with his enhanced strength, knocking Hulk aside. Vanitas disappeared and reappeared again on Hulk's other side, elbow slamming Hulk in the chest and knocking him down before disappearing again. Hulk roared out and started swinging his fists wildly since he didn't understand what was going on, and Vanitas used that to his advantage, kicking Hulk in the face and knocking him back.</p><p>Vanitas landed on his feet again and looked up at Hulk as the green giant recovered and charged at him. Hulk roared out and swung his fist at Vanitas, but the ravenette caught it with both hands and exclaimed in effort as he pulled Hulk over his shoulder and rammed the green giant into the ground, hard. Sora helped out and used Happy Gear's Shotlock attack, Warp Trick, made a bunch of portals appear and send out bursts of energy to attack, doing a bit of damage to Hulk.</p><p>Hulk then stood up and roared in anger, facing the cousins. The two stood ready, but before they could do anything, lightning surged past them that was so powerful it knocked Hulk into the air and made him fall to the ground hard, knocking off his helmet.</p><p>The audience went quiet again, Loki's jaw dropped in surprise, and the Grandmaster stood up in shock. Sora and Vanitas turned around and their jaws dropped in surprise to see electricity surging around Thor, his eyes even becoming large orbs of electricity. Thor stood up and looked down at his hands as the lightning surged around him.</p><p>Thor looked up to see Hulk standing ready with his fists clenched. Sora and Vanitas stepped to the side with wide eyes, letting Thor take care of things himself. Hulk and Thor charged forwards at once and then lunged at each other. Thor prevailed, uppercutting Hulk in the face and sending out a gigantic surge of energy that helped send Hulk to the ground, while he landed delicately on his feet.</p><p>Vanitas laughed in victory as he and Sora ran up next to Thor. The audience was cheering for them now, going, "Thunder! Thunder! Thunder!"</p><p>Korg, Donald, Goofy, and the other warriors that could speak English chanted with the crowd as Hulk brushed off his face and started standing up.</p><p>"Sorry, buddy, but we beat you, us and our friends are out of this," Vanitas said.</p><p>"Kind of gave us no choice," Sora admitted, twirling his Keyblade in preparation.</p><p>Thor, Vanitas, and Sora nodded their heads in agreement and started walking forwards. But then the Grandmaster activated the device in his hand, electrocuting the three and making them drop to the ground as they stuttered in pain. The audience booed as the trio dropped like rocks onto the ground.</p><p>Loki looked at the Grandmaster in surprise before looking back at the three. The Grandmaster just smirked as he sat back down. Scrapper 142 sighed out as she returned back to a place on her ship.</p><p>"That's not fair!" Donald bellowed. He pointed at the stand. "That prick cheated for Hulk! This whole damn game is rigged!"</p><p>He then exclaimed in pain as one of the guards activated their device and made him fall to the ground as he was electrocuted.</p><p>Hulk didn't look the gift horse in the mouth. He leaped up with so much power he was above one of the ships above the arena.</p><p>Korg sighed out, "Another day, another Doug. Three in one, that's new."</p><p>Hulk roared out as he launched himself down towards the trio, quickly coming back down with his fists pointed down. With wide eyes, Sora, Donald, and Vanitas each held out a hand in defense. Vanitas had just about enough time to think, '<em>Shit! </em>' before all three of their visions went black.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I'm talking about the world from the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit? You gotta admit, it would have been kind of cool if they included something like that in a Kingdom Hearts game since Disney characters are in that movie</p><p>*2 I'm trying to show off the character development that Loki has clearly shown throughout these movies, but they just forget to show off sometimes. This will come back in this story</p><p>*3 Apparently, Chris Hemsworth said that because a sick kid visiting the set said he wanted to see Thor yell that. Gotta love it when kids end up coming up with great lines for these kinds of things</p><p>*4 That line came from the RE3 remake. Jill yells it at final Nemesis during the battle</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Stupid Avenger</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>While Hela and her allies discover a problem with their plan, Sora, Vanitas, and Thor converse with Hulk</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Would have updated the other day, but I got pulled away from finishing the chapter. And I didn't yesterday because my dad took me and my grandma out for lunch, and I forgot all about writing when I got home</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Back on Asgard, Hela sat in the throne in the very large throne room of the castle, while Maleficent, Pete, and Skurge looked up at her sitting on her throne. Maleficent smiled at the image, knowing that she had a very powerful ally to help her conquer all worlds, and take out Thanos and the Keyblade wielders in the process. Pete was still a little afraid, since watching Hela take out the entirety of Asgard's army by herself was quite a feat. Skurge still didn't know how to process everything, but he knew that supporting Hela would ensure his survival, so he would keep doing that. Especially with the army of skeleton soldiers standing right behind him and Pete. He made sure to keep a hold of the two M16 assault rifles he was carrying, though, just in case.</p>
<p>Their attentions were soon drawn to the very loud sound of something hitting something big, hard.</p>
<p>"What is that noise?" Hela asked.</p>
<p>"The common folk aren't exactly falling in line," Skurge admitted. "There's a resistance trying to knock down the front gates."</p>
<p>Hela and Maleficent shared a nod, then looked over at the army of skeletons. Soldiers and Shadows appeared in the spots between the skeletons, then the minions started down the hallway towards the doors, ready to carry out orders from their mistresses.</p>
<p>"They should help ensure order amongst the lower masses," Maleficent commented with a holier-than-thou attitude.</p>
<p>"Tell me about yourself, Skurge," Hela encouraged the soldier. "I already know plenty of Maleficent and Pete, but nothing about you."</p>
<p>"I am trying to conquer all worlds," Maleficent told Skurge, like it was something as easy at getting milk out of the fridge.</p>
<p>"She sprung me out from prison, so I'm helping her conquer the worlds," Pete admitted, helping the soldier try to get a sense of friendship.</p>
<p>"Well, me dad was a stonemason," Skurge started explaining. "Me mum was..."</p>
<p>"Right, yeah, I'll just stop you there," Hela said. "What I meant was, what's your ambition?"</p>
<p>Skurge paused for a second.</p>
<p>"I just want a chance to prove myself," he admitted.</p>
<p>"I know the feeling..." Pete said, a nostalgic expression on his face.</p>
<p>"Recognition," Hela assessed with a smile. "When I was young, every great king had an executioner. Not just to execute people, but also to execute their vision..." She gestured with her hands to emphasize her point. "But mainly to execute people."</p>
<p>Pete would have smirked if the subject matter wasn't about killing people.</p>
<p>"Still, it was a great honor," Hela quickly continued. She stood up. "I was Odin's executioner." She slowly started walking down the stairs while pointing at Skurge. "And you shall be my executioner."</p>
<p>She held out her right hand, and a large, double sided axe appeared in it. She held up the axe, and Skurge took it with the hand that wasn't holding the assault rifle.</p>
<p>"Let's begin our conquest," Hela announced.</p>
<p>"I agree," Maleficent said. "Those worlds aren't going to conquer themselves, after all."</p>
<p>Hela and Maleficent led the way back through the city with Pete and Skurge right behind them, and part of the army of skeletons and Heartless following behind them. Hela led the way since she knew the path best, and her allies and minions followed her across the rainbow bridge and to the observatory where the Bifrost was usually launched out from. However, entering the observatory, the smile quickly dropped from Hela's face as the stand where the sword that operated the rainbow bridge came into view.</p>
<p>"Skurge, where's the sword?" Hela asked, looking right up at the empty stand.</p>
<p>Skurge, Maleficent, and Pete followed her gaze to see the empty stand, and Skurge quickly ran up the small staircase to observe the stand better.</p>
<p>"That sword is the key to opening the Bifrost," Hela said, hands on her hips. "Those people you mentioned, the ones who aren't falling into line, round them up."</p>
<p>"They will pay the price for their insubordination," Maleficent announced with a tone that had just as much of silent anger as there was in Hela's voice.</p>
<p>Pete gulped as he registered the anger in his mistress's voice. This wasn't going to end well...</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in the forest outside of the city, a family of Asgardians were running from the dead warriors from Hela and the Soldiers and High Soldiers that had followed them into the woods. The family, consisting of a mother, father, son, and daughter, ran through a nearby stream and through the trees, hoping for the best as they ran from the hostile individuals.</p>
<p>The daughter looked over her shoulder as she had taken the lead during the run, and ran right into a tall man that caught her to make sure she didn't fall. The rest of the family came to a stop behind the daughter as the man took off his hood, revealing Heimdall, the previous watcher of the observatory. Heimdall looked up over the daughter and past her parents, knowing that the skeletons and Heartless were getting closer.</p>
<p>"Excuse me," Heimdall softly said.</p>
<p>The family quickly understood, and got out of the way, with the mother pulling her daughter to the side.</p>
<p>Heimdall unsheathed the Bifrost sword and charged at the enemies. He deflected a sword strike from a skeleton before destroying it with a slash of his own blade. Holding the blade with both hands, Heimdall deflected two more sword strikes from another skeleton before cutting it in half vertically, destroying it. Another skeleton tried charging at Heimdall from behind, but he quickly twirled around and decapitated it with his sword. Two Soldiers tried lunging at him from the left, but he twirled around again and took them out with a single swipe. Two High Soldier charged at him, one from the right and the other from the left, and he stepped back at the last minute, letting them run into each other before decapitating them both. The last two skeletons charged right at him, and he decapitated the both of them with a single swipe of the blade, breaking apart some of a tree.</p>
<p>With all the enemies destroyed, Heimdall panted slightly as he looked over his shoulder at the family.</p>
<p>"Sorry about that," he said. "Those bloody things were everywhere. Come on." <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Heimdall led the family out of the forest and through waterfalls, going into the mountains. He led them along the rocky ledges up into the air to a specific spot hidden high up in the shade. He ran his fingers along specific designs in the rock floor, sending out specific bits of magic that spread along the gigantic set of double doors in front of him. The doors rumbled as they opened up, revealing the gigantic cavern.</p>
<p>Heimdall looked at the family he had saved.</p>
<p>"You'll be safe here," he promised them, gesturing into the cavern.</p>
<p>Heimdall led the family into the gigantic cavern with columns on far sides of the room and torches that lit up the many, many people Heimdall had led up here to hide from Hela. The doors slid shut behind them as the family were embraced by their fellow Asgardians. Heimdall sighed out in contempt at another job well done.</p><hr/>
<p>Back on Sakaar, Thor, Sora, and Vanitas were unconscious on a floor in a specific room with their shirts removed. Women that were no doubt working for the Grandmaster took wet cloths out of bowls of water and laid them down on the bruises on the three mens' torsos. Thor yelled out as he woke up, gasping the women in surprise, causing them to start running out of the room. Thor winced as he slowly sat up, getting Sora and Vanitas to wake up, as well.</p>
<p>"What the hell?" Vanitas asked, his voice strained a bit as he and Thor sat up, watching the women run down the red and white hallway, turning a corner and disappearing.</p>
<p>"I'm gonna try not to feel inadequate," Sora commented, looking from his muscled cousin and friend to his own not muscled torso.</p>
<p>"You'll get here one day," Vanitas assured Sora before looking around the room.</p>
<p>The walls, floor, and wall were designed with the same red and white making weird patterns, with desks with junk on top of them on either side of the large open doorway with the same colors. The back half of the room was a step above the other half. The way out in front of them appeared to be the only way out, with light spewing out from various locations to signify other rooms. In the room they were in, there was a large bed with bone like designs opposite of the doorway, large windows on the opposite side to give a great view of the city, two large shelved filled with many, many bottles of alcohol, a small area with couches on one side and pillows strewn everywhere, and a large hot tub on one side with fake rock designs around it.</p>
<p>The trio's attention soon found the shirts they had worn, and they grabbed them. Thor slipped on his leather tunic, Sora put on his shirt and jacket, and Vanitas put on his two shirts and not leather SKINO jacket. Vanitas's sling was also resting on a nearby desk, so Vanitas ran over and grabbed it.</p>
<p>"They never learn, do they?" he asked his friends.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, they had. The sling was restrained shut with what looked like large bits of metal sewn through the opening.</p>
<p>"I stand corrected," Vanitas commented, sighing out in defeat.</p>
<p>The sound of water splashing got the trio's attentions. They looked towards the hot tub to see Hulk's chest and head popping up out of the water, slightly hidden by the smoke.</p>
<p>"Why'd you get a haircut?" Vanitas asked with a sad expression. "I enjoyed your old hair when you were both Bruce and you." <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"Are we cool?" Thor asked Hulk, holding up his hands in a calming gesture.</p>
<p>"Remember everything we've been through," Sora suggested, also holding up his hands in a calming gesture. "Sure, we fought a lot, but we still worked together. Like New York and Sokovia."</p>
<p>Hulk growled lightly as he looked at them, but he never got out and tried to kill them, so they took that as a good sign. Thor smiled and shot Hulk two thumbs up.</p>
<p>"It's a Hulk in a hot tub," Thor commented as he, Sora, and Vanitas walked over to where the couches were. "So how long you been like that?"</p>
<p>"Like what?" Hulk demanded.</p>
<p>"You," Vanitas bluntly said.</p>
<p>"Like this," Thor added. "Big, green, and stupid."</p>
<p>"They mean how long have you been Hulk, and not Bruce?" Sora translated.</p>
<p>Hulk leaned forwards, and his green face came out into the light.</p>
<p>"Hulk always Hulk," Hulk said.</p>
<p>"Fine, don't give us a straight answer," Vanitas muttered as he, his cousin, and his friend looked out the window next to them.</p>
<p>The window gave them a great view of Sakaar, the wormholes, and the junk falling down from the wormholes. Sora and Vanitas winced as they watched a ship explode in the distance from falling debris hitting it.</p>
<p>"How'd you get here?" Thor asked.</p>
<p>"Winning," Hulk said.</p>
<p>"You mean cheating, huh?" Thor asked, looking at Hulk. He gestured to the devices still connected to his, Sora, and Vanitas's necks. "Were they wearing one of these when you won?"</p>
<p>"You only won against us because the Grandmaster cheated for you when it looked like we were gonna win," Vanitas emphasized. "Prick shocked the shit out of us."</p>
<p>"Anyway," Sora said, trying to keep things light. "How did you get to this world?"</p>
<p>Hulk took his right hand out of the water and waved it around, imitating a whooshing sound with his mouth. He then slammed his hand into the water, giving the idea of a crash landing.</p>
<p>"Quinjet," Hulk said.</p>
<p>"So that explains how you disappeared," Vanitas commented, looking up and remembering how no one could find him after Sokovia.</p>
<p>"I didn't know those things went into space," Sora commented.</p>
<p>"That works," Thor said, smiling at Hulk and holding out his hands to his tallest teammate. "Now, where is the Quinjet now?"</p>
<p>A slightly annoyed expression on his face, Hulk started walking out of the hot tub, now letting everyone see that he wasn't wearing anything.</p>
<p>"That's naked," Thor said with a nervous smile as the three looked up.</p>
<p>"He's very naked," Sora said with wide eyes as he, Thor, and Vanitas looked up at the ceiling as Hulk walked up to them.</p>
<p>"How did we end up seeing it before his ex-girlfriend, Betty?" Vanitas asked with a frown. "Or even before Nat?"</p>
<p>"That's in my brain now," Thor said, closing his eyes as Hulk walked past them to the window.</p>
<p>"I'm gonna have to watch a lot of lesbian porn to get it out of my eyes," Vanitas admitted, nodding as he kept his eyes pointed at the ceiling.</p>
<p>"Quinjet," Hulk said, pointing below them to the lower levels of the city.</p>
<p>Thor and the cousins looked at him, making sure to keep their gazes above the waist, and followed his pointed finger out of the window. Hulk walked past them towards his bed as the trio walked up to the window. Looking down to the lower levels of the city, seeing a scrap yard much smaller than the gigantic ones outside of the city, their attentions quickly caught on to the familiar sight of a Quinjet far below them.</p>
<p>"Yes!" Thor whispered, excitement in his voice.</p>
<p>"That's our ticket out of here," Vanitas told his friend and cousin with a smile.</p>
<p>"I'm getting us out of here," Thor announced, walking after Hulk, who had wrapped a towel around his waist to dry off. Hulk sat in his bed with a large fruit in his right hand. "This is a terrible, awful place."</p>
<p>"We gotta make sure to get Donald, Goofy, and Stitch before leaving," Sora reminded his friends as he slipped his gloves back on.</p>
<p>"Obviously," Vanitas said, making another attempt to loosen the metal thread through his sling.</p>
<p>"You're gonna love Asgard," Thor told Hulk as he took his leather arm guards and slipped one onto his right wrist. "It's big. It's golden. Shiny."</p>
<p>"It's a real beautiful place," Vanitas added, remembering what he had seen of the city the previous times he was there.</p>
<p>"Hulk stay," Hulk denied, taking a bite of the fruit in his hand.</p>
<p>"No, no, no," Thor said, walking up the step to get a better look at Hulk. "My people need me to get back to Asgard. We must prevent Ragnarok."</p>
<p>"Ragnarok?" Hulk asked.</p>
<p>"The end of his world," Vanitas translated. "We've gotta stop his crazy sister from destroying the whole damn place."</p>
<p>"We're gonna help him since some of our old enemies are helping her," Sora said. "They're helping her because she promised them..."</p>
<p>Hulk yawned loudly, making it clear he wasn't that interested.</p>
<p>"If you help us get to Asgard, we can help you get back to Earth," Thor promised with a smile. "Huh?"</p>
<p>"Back to Tony and our friends," Vanitas added with his own smile.</p>
<p>"Earth hate Hulk," Hulk told them with a face that made it clear he didn't have positive feelings for the world, either.</p>
<p>"What are you talking about?" Sora asked with a genuinely confused expression. "You know how many kids I've seen that played 'Avengers,' with so many of them eager to be you?"</p>
<p>"Exactly," Thor agreed. "Earth loves Hulk. They love you. You're one of the Avengers."</p>
<p>Hulk took another bite out of his large squash (?).</p>
<p>"One of the team, one of our friends," Thor continued. "This is what friends do. They support each other."</p>
<p>"You're Banner's friend," Hulk remarked, looking from Thor to Sora. "Both of you." He looked at Vanitas. "You're nice to both Hulk and Banner, but you still favor Banner."</p>
<p>"That's bullshit," Vanitas denied. "I respect Bruce for being smart and pretty crafty in the video games we play, and I respect you for being tough. You know how many of those arm wrestle tournaments I wish I could have done with full access to my super strength and see if I was as strong as you?"</p>
<p>"I'm not Banner's friend," Thor said, and Sora frowned at him. "I prefer you."</p>
<p>"Banner's friends," Hulk repeated, still annoyed with all three of them.</p>
<p>"I don't even like Banner," Thor said with a small chuckle that made Vanitas realize he was lying to the green man. "'I'm into numbers and science and stuff.'"</p>
<p>He chuckled and held out his hands to emphasize his point. Sora sighed out at Thor's obviously pathetic and failed attempt to try to get Hulk to help them.</p>
<p>"Thor, Sora, V go," Hulk said. "Hulk stay."</p>
<p>"Fine," Thor said softly, resigned to the fact that Hulk wasn't coming. "Stay here."</p>
<p>"We're gonna come back for you," Sora promised, a little offended that Hulk wasn't coming.</p>
<p>"See ya," Vanitas said, waving bye to Hulk as they started towards the open exit.</p>
<p>"Stupid place," Thor commented. He looked at Hulk, gesturing to his teammate with his other armguard. He walked backwards while gesturing to the walls. "It's hideous, by the way. The red, the white. Just pick a color Ridiculous."</p>
<p>"Smash you," Hulk called out as the trio got close to the doorway out.</p>
<p>"You didn't smash anything," Thor said, stopping and looking back at Hulk. "We won that fight."</p>
<p>"I smashed you," Hulk repeated.</p>
<p>"Because some weirdo electrocuted us to the ground," Sora said.</p>
<p>"He literally handed you victory like you were a stubborn toddler," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"Exactly," Thor said as they turned back towards the doorway.</p>
<p>"Baby arms," Hulk said.</p>
<p>"Hey!" Sora said, offended and placing his hands on his tiny biceps self consciously.</p>
<p>"What?" Thor demanded, looking at Hulk again.</p>
<p>"Baby!" Hulk repeated, chucking his large squash at the trio.</p>
<p>They ducked as the squash flew over their heads and broke apart on the floor in the hallway.</p>
<p>"Moron!" Thor snapped as they stood straight up again. "You big child."</p>
<p>"Thor, Sora, V go," Hulk repeated his earlier words.</p>
<p>"We are going," Thor said.</p>
<p>"We'll be back for you eventually," Vanitas said, sighing out as he and Thor started walking into the hallway.</p>
<p>However, just as they walked through the doorway, an alarm went off and a red force field appeared in front of the muscled men, electrocuting them and making them drop to the ground. Sora watched with a surprised expression with his eyes wide, while Hulk laughed his ass off.</p>
<p>"Thor, Sora, V go again," Hulk laughed.</p>
<p>"I'm good," Sora said with a small voice as his cousin and friend groaned in pain on the ground.</p>
<p>Vanitas exclaimed in pain as he stood up and looked at the doorway in front of them again. Wincing while preparing himself, Vanitas reached out his arm through the doorway again, and exclaimed as his hand hit the red force field and shocked him. He quickly took his hand back and winced as he held it.</p>
<p>"What are you thinking?" Sora asked as Vanitas looked at the force field with a contemplative expression.</p>
<p>"It'll shock you if you go through it," Vanitas announced. He looked at Sora. "But what if technically, you don't go through it?"</p>
<p>Sora quickly caught on, and Vanitas disappeared. But then the alarm went off again, and Vanitas appeared against the force field again, stuttering as he was electrocuted. He fell to the ground again, wincing in pain once more.</p>
<p>"I get it, Kyle," Vanitas growled out through his winces of pain. "I shouldn't have jinxed myself when I said I hope I don't get shocked again back in the first chapter. You don't have to keep rubbing it in." <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Hulk smirked and stood up from off his bed and looked at the trio.</p>
<p>"Thor, Sora, V home," he told them.</p>
<p>After Thor and Vanitas recovered a bit from the electric attacks, they walked up to the window and looked down with Sora at the Quinjet with wistful expressions. They knew that that jet was their only way off this world since they couldn't find the Gummi ship, so they needed to find a way to reach it. Their attentions were drawn to nearby large footsteps hitting the ground, and looked over to see Hulk back in his armor carrying his mallet.</p>
<p>"Hulk trains," Hulk told them.</p>
<p>"That's great," Thor said, hands on his hips. "Have fun."</p>
<p>"Make sure you request an actually fair fight," Sora told the green warrior.</p>
<p>Hulk slipped on his helmet and walked out of the room, where he met Scrapper 142 right out in the hallway.</p>
<p>"Hey, big guy," Scrapper 142 greeted.</p>
<p>"Angry girl," Hulk greeted back.</p>
<p>"What have you been up to?" Scrapper 142 as they walked down the hallway.</p>
<p>"Winning," Hulk said.</p>
<p>"Cheating," Vanitas corrected Hulk as the two left earshot.</p>
<p>Thor sighed out as he looked out the window in front of them with his hands on his hips again.</p>
<p>"What are we supposed to do?" Sora asked his friend and his cousin.</p>
<p>Vanitas was about to shrug his shoulders hopelessly, but his attention was quickly drawn to Thor, who had closed his eyes as he concentrated.</p>
<p>"Heimdall, I know you can see me," Thor said, softly. "I need you to help me."</p>
<p>Vanitas closed one eye as he felt the pain of seeing a vision pass through his head. Heimdall was escorting people through Asgard to escape from skeletons and Heartless, but he paused as he heard Thor's voice.</p>
<p>"Help me see," Thor muttered.</p>
<p>Knowing it would probably be a good idea, Vanitas put one hand on Sora's shoulder and the other on Thor's shoulder so they would all see what Thor was about to see. Thor opened his eyes, and they were the same shade of orange as Heimdall's. After quick blinks, Sora and Vanitas were the same way. The trio looked around in surprise to see that they were in a hallway on Asgard with Heimdall. They knew enough to know it was just a vision, though.</p>
<p>"I see you, but you're far away," Heimdall said. "Nice to see you again, Vanitas, and to officially meet you, Sora Derrik."</p>
<p>"What's going on here?" Thor asked with a confused frown.</p>
<p>"What happened?" Vanitas asked, worry in his voice.</p>
<p>"Come see for yourselves," Heimdall told them.</p>
<p>Heimdall led the illusions of the trio down the hallway, bringing them to a small alcove with a balcony where people were hiding, which gave them a good view of the city and the palace below them. Smoke was billowing up various parts of the city, making it clear there were fires burning.</p>
<p>"Oh, my god," Sora said, horror in his voice as they looked down at the city in front of them.</p>
<p>"I knew Maleficent was a bitch, but I didn't think..." Vanitas started before he paused in thought. "Actually, I knew she was perfectly capable of this. We saw what she did to Hollow Bastion."</p>
<p>"I'm providing refuge in a stronghold built by our ancestors," Heimdall explained. "But if the garrison falls, our only escape is Bifrost."</p>
<p>"You're talking about evacuating Asgard?" Thor asked.</p>
<p>The sounds of creatures snarling in the open area just outside the alcove caused everyone to press up against the walls to hide in the small room. Even Thor, Sora, and Vanitas pressed against the walls, even though they knew they were still just illusions. The skeletons in armor and High Soldiers walked down the open area outside, walking past the alcove and the people hidden within.</p>
<p>"We won't last long if we stay," Heimdall remarked.</p>
<p>"Yeah, not everyone here is a warrior," Vanitas pointed out, looking around and seeing that the people hidden in the hallway were mostly families with children.</p>
<p>"She draws her power from Asgard and grows stronger every day," Heimdall said. "Maleficent and Pete shouldn't be too hard since the Keybladers have faced them more than once, but Hela... she's the biggest threat." He looked at the people around him. "Come on."</p>
<p>Heimdall led the people out of the small alcove and through the small courtyard, directing them through a hallway. He stood in place and looked at the images of his allies that only he could see.</p>
<p>"Hela is ravenous," Heimdall told them. "If I let her leave, she'll consume Nine Realms and all the cosmos. We need you."</p>
<p>"We're working on it," Vanitas promised as two skeleton warriors and High Soldiers took notice and started running towards Heimdall.</p>
<p>"But we don't even know where the hell we are," Thor admitted.</p>
<p>"Or how to get out of here," Sora added.</p>
<p>"You're on a planet surrounded by doorways," Heimdall told them, backing up in preparation to fight the enemies. "Go through one."</p>
<p>"Which one?" Thor asked.</p>
<p>"The big one," Heimdall told them, gripping his sword in both hands.</p>
<p>Heimdall swung his sword through the illusions of Sora, Thor, and Vanitas just as the skeletons and Heartless got close enough, destroying the closest skeleton.</p>
<p>Back on Sakaar, the trio gasped in surprise as they were let out of their shared vision, finding themselves back in Hulk's room, staring out the window in front of them. Thor panted in and out as he took in what just happened to them.</p>
<p>"Well, now we've got a plan," Sora said, looking at his friend and cousin. "Now how do we actually follow through with it?"</p>
<p>"That," Vanitas said, pointing at Sora. He threw up that hand just seconds later. "I don't know."</p><hr/>
<p>Later on, after the sun had gone down, Hulk had returned from training, and laid down in his bed after taking off his armor, leaving wrappings to cover his waist and multiple beaded necklaces. Thor sat on the stair and made another attempt to pull the device off of his neck, and winced when it didn't work, clutching his sore neck. Sora made his third attempt to swing his Keyblade through the red barrier that appeared when they tried leaving, and sighed out in disappointment that it didn't work.</p>
<p>"Looks like the only way to get at my stuff is to tear apart this thing," Vanitas commented, failing at his latest attempt to try to take the metal off of the zipper as he sat next to Thor. "Not sure I'm willing to do it since I've had it for this long."</p>
<p>"Understandable," Sora admitted. "You carried that thing on your back every day for a decade."</p>
<p>"That still doesn't help us, though," Thor commented, a little pissed at their situation.</p>
<p>Hulk sat up after hearing a bit of their struggles and frustrations. He slid across the bed and sat on the edge, looking at the trio.</p>
<p>"Thor sad," Hulk said, looking directly at the new brunette.</p>
<p>"Shut up," Thor softly snapped at Hulk.</p>
<p>Hulk stood up off his bed and walked up to Thor.</p>
<p>"Thor sad," he repeated in a teasing, pushing Thor down by his shoulder, knocking him onto his back.</p>
<p>Vanitas made sure to back up enough when Hulk had gotten close enough.</p>
<p>"I'm not sad, you idiot," Thor snapped, sitting up again on the stair before standing up. "I'm pissed off!"</p>
<p>"Oh," Hulk commented as Thor walked to the other side of the wall.</p>
<p>"Angry," Thor emphasized before kicking a part of armor towards the wall. "I lost my father. I lost my hammer."</p>
<p>Hulk scoffed as he turned away from Thor.</p>
<p>"Was Hulk always this much of a jerk?" Sora whispered to Vanitas.</p>
<p>"Pretty much," Vanitas admitted, nodding to his cousin while looking at the two. "We just never paid too much attention to it in battle since he was always destroying stuff for us. Actually, come to think of it, that should have been a good indication."</p>
<p>Thor and Hulk continued expressing anger at each other while the cousins muttered to each other.</p>
<p>"You're not even listening!" Thor snapped at Hulk as the green man mocked him by saying, "Whining and crying."</p>
<p>"Cry like baby," Hulk added as Thor kicked a small shield on the ground towards him.</p>
<p>That made Hulk a bit more angry than he already always was.</p>
<p>"Don't kick stuff," Hulk snapped, picking up the shield in his hands before throwing it at Thor.</p>
<p>Thor stepped to the side to dodge the shield.</p>
<p>"You're being a really bad friend," Thor snapped.</p>
<p>"You bad friend!" Hulk angrily snapped back.</p>
<p>"You know what we call you?" Thor angrily asked Hulk.</p>
<p>"No," Hulk said.</p>
<p>"We call you the stupid Avenger," Thor told Hulk, intentionally insulting the green man.</p>
<p>"Hey!" Vanitas exclaimed, wanting to defend his old roommate. "The stupid Avengers are Donald and Goofy."</p>
<p>Sora paused.</p>
<p>"I can't even argue," he admitted.</p>
<p>"You tiny Avengers!" Hulk snapped, lifting up his axe.</p>
<p>"No, that's Donald," Sora said, shaking his head with nonchalance.</p>
<p>Hulk ignored them and lobed his axe at Thor, and the side of it embedded itself into the wall right next to him. Eyes wide, Thor looked up at Hulk.</p>
<p>"What, are you crazy?" he exclaimed with his arms spread out in disbelief.</p>
<p>"Yes," Hulk easily said, picking up a Morning Star with both hands.</p>
<p>"Oh, that's why those Heartless were called that," Vanitas said in remembrance, remembering the living spiked balls. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"You know what?" Thor asked Hulk, pointing at the green man with a frown. "Earth <em>does</em> hate you."</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas winced in sympathetic unison as Hulk kept a blank face. Hulk set the Morning Star down on the ground and walked back over to his bed, angrily shoving his fists down slightly before he sat down on his mattress. Thor sighed out as he realized his mistake and walked over to the bed, watching the green man. Sora and Vanitas walked across the room and went up the stair to look at their friends better.</p>
<p>"No," Hulk softly said as Thor leaned against the large bed. He looked away and shook his head. "Mmm-mmm."</p>
<p>"I'm sorry I said those things," Thor said, looking down in shame. "You're not the stupid Avenger. Nobody calls you the stupid Avenger."</p>
<p>"We actually respect you for always being there to beat the snot out of whatever we face," Sora assured Hulk.</p>
<p>"It's okay," Hulk told them, looking at Thor, but never dropping his frown.</p>
<p>"You just can't go around throwing shields at people," Thor told Hulk with his arms crossed. "Could have killed me."</p>
<p>"I know," Hulk said, actually sounding sorry. "I'm sorry, I just get so angry all the time. Hulk always, always angry."</p>
<p>"I can understand that," Vanitas admitted.</p>
<p>"Probably doesn't help that you become you when Bruce gets too mad," Sora commented.</p>
<p>"It doesn't," Hulk confirmed, shaking his head.</p>
<p>"I know the feeling," Thor told Hulk. "We're the same, you, me, and V. We're just a couple of hot-headed fools."</p>
<p>Hulk and Vanitas both nodded in agreement. Sora couldn't even try to find a way to argue against that, having heard stories about Thor, Vanitas, and Hulk's escapades of always acting with impulse.</p>
<p>"Yeah, same," Hulk agreed. "Hulk like fire, Thor and V like water."</p>
<p>"All three of us are kind of like fire," Thor commented.</p>
<p>"I can literally make fire by blinking," Vanitas added. "I did that just the other day."</p>
<p>"But Hulk like real fire," Hulk said. "Hulk like... raging fire. V like... burning fire. Thor like... smoldering fire."</p>
<p>"I think that's the most you're ever gonna get in terms of compliments from this guy," Sora commented as Thor and Vanitas chuckled.</p>
<p>"I'll take it," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"Sora like water," Hulk said.</p>
<p>"Thanks," Sora said with a smile. "I can make water, too, with my Keyblade."</p>
<p>Thor thought for a second and looked up at Hulk.</p>
<p>"Hulk, I need you to do something for me," he said.</p>
<p>"Hmm?" Hulk asked with one eyebrow raised.</p>
<p>"Don't get the wrong idea just 'cause you're in a bed," Vanitas quipped as Thor started explaining his plan...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I'm glad they gave Heimdall at least a slightly bigger role in this movie. Like I said in the Dark World story, the guy's a badass but they never show it off</p>
<p>*2 I did enjoy Bruce's hair during the previous movies he was in, and am a little upset he never grew it back out</p>
<p>*3 Okay, I'll stop</p>
<p>*4 I looked up what the weapon Hulk picked up, the staff with a spiked ball on the end, was called, and saw that it was called a Morning Star. That really explains those Heartless from Kingdom Hearts 2. I remember, when I read the character profile page for those guys, I just wondered, "Why's it called a Morning Star?" Now I know</p>
<p>It surprises me a bit, how easily I can make an 11 minute segment of a movie into a 4,000+ word chapter</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Strongest Avenger</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Thor, Sora, and Vanitas make their escape, and finally reunite with an old friend...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next morning, Scrapper 142 walked into Hulk's room at the usual time she met up with the green giant, passing by two guards holding staffs. She messed with one of them by kicking the bottom of his staff, making him lose his balance a bit. She laughed as she walked across the bottom step part of the room towards Hulk, who was standing in front of his bed with his hammer.</p>
<p>"Angry girl," Hulk greeted, waving his hand as the guards dispersed in the hallway.</p>
<p>Scrapper 142 chuckled as she ran up the stair towards Hulk, who lifted up his hammer with both hands. She slid on the ground to duck as Hulk swung upwards, dodging the attack. Hulk lost his balance as he finished the swing, so when Scrapper 142 stood up, she laughed as she kicked him in the stomach, making Hulk fall to the ground.</p>
<p>"What's going on?" Scrapper 142 asked with a chuckle. "What are you..."</p>
<p>She trailed off as she looked up to see Thor, Sora, and Vanitas coming out from hiding behind one of the shelves with alcohol. Thor was wearing his cape once again while he had an expectant expression on his face. He started to lean against the shelf, but stopped and instead held his hands together in front of himself.</p>
<p>"Hi," Sora said, waving his right hand.</p>
<p>Scrapper 142's face went back to her usual blank faced expression and stepped up on Hulk's leg, walking down the center of the room.</p>
<p>"You're so thick-headed that you can't tell when someone's hiding across the universe and wants to be left alone," Scrapper 142 accused as she walked towards the doorway.</p>
<p>"That's not what this is," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"We need to talk," Thor announced.</p>
<p>"No, you want to talk to me," Scrapper 142 rebutted, glancing back at Thor before turning back and continued walking.</p>
<p>"Please?" Sora asked, to no avail.</p>
<p>"We need her to stay," Thor told Hulk.</p>
<p>Hulk pointed at Thor as he realized what the Asgardian was implying.</p>
<p>"Stay?" Hulk asked, before grabbing the headboard of his bed.</p>
<p>Sora went wide eyed as Hulk tore the bone backboard off with his bare hands and chucked it towards the doorway.</p>
<p>"Block," Hulk announced as the backboard landed in front of Scrapper 142 in the doorway. Thor shot the green giant an incredulous expression. "Stay. Please."</p>
<p>"Please," Thor repeated, looking towards Scrapper 142.</p>
<p>"I'm honestly not surprised," Vanitas admitted, pointing back at Hulk with his thumb.</p>
<p>Scrapper 142 turned around again while looking at the ground with a begrudging expression.</p>
<p>"All right," she agreed. She started walking towards the shelves of alcohol as Hulk threw a ball against the wall in the back half of the room. "Here's the deal."</p>
<p>She stepped up to the shelf and grabbed one of the bottles.</p>
<p>"I'll listen to you..." Scrapper 142 said as she took the cap off of the bottle. "...till this is empty."</p>
<p>"Sounds fair," Sora said as she lifted the bottle to her lips and started drinking.</p>
<p>"Asgard is in danger and people are dying," Thor started explaining. "We need to get back there. My friends and I need your help..."</p>
<p>He trailed off as he realized that Scrapper 142 had finished most of the large bottle of alcohol while he had talked.</p>
<p>"Wow," Thor said, impressed, as the woman finished off the bottle.</p>
<p>"Yep, Howard would love this woman," Vanitas commented, nodding his head.</p>
<p>"Please don't introduce me to Howard," Sora said.</p>
<p>"Smart request," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"Finished," Scrapper 142 sighed out, dropping the bottle and letting it shatter on the floor. "Bye."</p>
<p>She started walking towards the doorway again.</p>
<p>"Odin is dead," Thor said, getting her to stop. "Hela, the goddess of death, has invaded Asgard, with the evil fairy, Maleficent."</p>
<p>"We can take care of Maleficent, but we're gonna need all hands on deck to take care of Hela," Sora said.</p>
<p>"If Hela's back, then Asgard's already lost," Scrapper 142 softly said as she looked over her shoulder at Thor.</p>
<p>"We're going to stop her," Thor announced.</p>
<p>"Alone?" Scrapper 142 asked with an incredulous expression, looking between him, Sora, and Vanitas. "Just the three of you?"</p>
<p>"We saved all the worlds, twice," Sora said, gesturing to himself and his cousin.</p>
<p>"And I didn't have full control of my powers either time," Vanitas added. "I do now."</p>
<p>"Plus, we're putting together a team," Thor said. "It's the three of us, our friends in the hold, the blue furred one, you, and the big guy."</p>
<p>He pointed to each person there, and the doorway to emphasize Donald and Goofy in the jail, to emphasize each member of this team.</p>
<p>"No," Hulk announced as he caught his ball again. "No team. Only Hulk."</p>
<p>Thor's expression never changed as he started gesturing to them again.</p>
<p>"It's the three of us, our friends in jail, the blue one, and you," he said.</p>
<p>"I think it's only you three," Scrapper 142 rebutted as she started turning towards the doorway again.</p>
<p>"Wait, just listen," Thor said, walking towards Scrapper 142 and standing between her and the doorway. "The Valkyrie are legend. Elite warriors of Asgard sworn to defend the throne."</p>
<p>"Hell, pitting your group against the Hunters of Artemis, I'd place my money on you," Vanitas admitted, hoping Artemis didn't hear that and decide to curse him. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Scrapper looked from side to side before saying, "I'm not getting dragged into another one of Odin's family squabbles."</p>
<p>"What's that supposed to mean?" Thor asked as he, Sora, and Vanitas frowned in confusion.</p>
<p>"Your sister," Scrapper 142 said. "Her power comes from Asgard, same as yours. When it grew beyond Odin's control, she massacred everyone in the palace and tried to seize the throne."</p>
<p>"What a bitch," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"A big one," Scrapper 142 agreed, nodding along with Sora. "And when she tried to escape her banishment, he sent the Valkyrie in to fight her back."</p>
<p>"Something tells me it didn't end well," Sora commented with a sorry voice.</p>
<p>Scrapper 142 closed her eyes and shook her head in confirmation. She opened them and looked up at Thor again.</p>
<p>"I only survived because..." Scrapper 142 started before pausing. "Look, I already faced her once back when I believed in the throne, and it cost me everything. That's what's wrong with Asgard. The throne, the secrets, the whole golden sham."</p>
<p>She started walking past Thor again.</p>
<p>"I agree," Thor said, catching her right forearm and slowing her down.</p>
<p>Since she clearly didn't like contact, Scrapper 142 pushed aside his hand and stepped in front of him, pulling out a knife and pointing it at Thor's neck.</p>
<p>"Don't get familiar," she threatened.</p>
<p>Thor sighed out, "I agree."</p>
<p>"So do I," Vanitas agreed. "Odin was an ass, even when he wasn't Loki pretending to be him."</p>
<p>"That's why I turned down the throne," Thor said in a reasoning voice, lowering Scrapper 142's knife with his hand. She just switched the hand she was holding the knife in and kept pointing it up at Thor. "But this isn't about the throne." He pushed the blade down again. "This is about the people. They're dying and they're your people, too."</p>
<p>"Forget it," Scrapper 142 said, pushing Thor away. "I have."</p>
<p>"Okay," Thor simply said.</p>
<p>"Okay," Scrapper 142 said.</p>
<p>"Good," Thor said. "Great."</p>
<p>"Great," Scrapper 142 said.</p>
<p>"Thank you," Thor said.</p>
<p>"For what?" Scrapper 142 asked, confused.</p>
<p>"For this," Thor said, holding up the device that Scrapper 142 had used before to shock them. He chuckled. "Didn't see that, did you?"</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas went wide eyed in excitement, but Scrapper 142 sighed out as she looked to the side, while Thor used the device to power down the gears on the trio's necks.</p>
<p>"There..." he said. "That's better."</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas sighed out in relief as they took the shocking devices off of their necks with Thor.</p>
<p>"Finally," Vanitas commented. "That hurt a lot."</p>
<p>"Is that what we do to everyone we cast Thunder on?" Sora asked, looking at his cousin with a suddenly sympathetic expression.</p>
<p>"You know, go ahead," Thor told Scrapper 142 as Hulk walked over with interest. "Stay here and enslave people for that lunatic." He slid the device into one of the pouches on his belt. "Keep drinking, keep hiding. But me..."</p>
<p>Thor clapped his hands together, and Hulk threw the metal ball towards him, which he caught with a small exclaim.</p>
<p>"I choose to run toward my problems, and not run away from them," Thor told Scrapper 142, pointing at her before gaining a heroic expression.</p>
<p>"Bitching," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"Very," Sora agreed, nodding his head with wide eyes.</p>
<p>Thor held the ball in both hands and chucked it at the window on their left side.</p>
<p>"Because that's what..." Thor started to say.</p>
<p>The ball hit the window and cracked it, but bounced off and hit Thor in the side of the head, making him drop to the ground. Sora and Vanitas winced for their friend as Scrapper 142 looked at the downed Asgardian like he was an idiot, an expression Sora was familiar with receiving and one Vanitas was used to giving. Thor stood back up and shook off the hit to his head, clenching his fists to compose himself before turning towards the window.</p>
<p>"Because that's what heroes do," Thor said, pointing at Scrapper 142.</p>
<p>"Let's roll," Vanitas announced, sliding his sling back onto his back.</p>
<p>The three of them charged to the window, and Thor jumped towards it first, breaking through the cracked part of the glass and falling down. Sora and Vanitas followed Thor's example and jumped out of the window, following the Asgardian as he slid down the side of the red building.</p>
<p>"I'm having flashbacks to the time Roxas and I did this with Cap!" Vanitas exclaimed as they continued sliding down the building.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas continued following Thor's example, jumping off of the building after him onto the rooftop of another, shorter blue building before they jumped off and towards the ground, landing in a roll.</p>
<p>The trio recovered quickly and started running across the scrapyard they were in, looking for the Quinjet that they had seen from up in Hulk's penthouse. Going through the large amounts of scrap around them, they passed by multiple people doing their own bits of work, most of which resulted in sparks bursting along the large pieces of metal. The trio soon came to a T in the path, Sora and Thor looking down the right, and Vanitas looking down the left.</p>
<p>"Guys," Vanitas said with a smile, gesturing to the Quinjet just about fifteen feet away from them.</p>
<p>"Yes," Thor said as they ran up to the jet.</p>
<p>He lightly punched the nose of the Quinjet before running along the wings.</p>
<p>"Never thought I'd be so happy to see one of these!" Sora laughed as Thor, Vanitas, then himself jumped up onto the roof of the jet.</p>
<p>Thor grabbed a hold of the open ceiling port and used it to leverage himself down into the plane. Sora and Vanitas jumped in after him, and the three entered the main part of the Quinjet, chuckling in relief at the sight of their old ride.</p>
<p>"This is the same one we took to Sokovia," Sora chuckled in remembrance.</p>
<p>"Hey!" Vanitas said with a smile, kneeling down next to the seats and reaching under them. "There's the bottle of orange juice I never finished."</p>
<p>Sora shrugged that off for three seconds before he remembered what Thor said about how it had been two years for him since Sokovia.</p>
<p>"Wait, V..." he started.</p>
<p>But Vanitas had already opened the bottle and took a sip of the juice, then immediately spat it out. He exclaimed in disgust and covered the bottle in a fire ball, taking out both the bottle and the very old liquid.</p>
<p>"Right, two years," Vanitas said, standing up and turning towards his wincing friends. "Remind me not to let my appetite control my actions again."</p>
<p>"Noted," Thor said as the three of them jogged up to the pilots' section of the Quinjet.</p>
<p>Thor and Vanitas looked around the control section and started pressing some buttons, which turned on a keyboard and a hand scanner. Thor placed his hand against the scanner.</p>
<p>"<em>Welcome,</em>" the computer voice said. "<em>Voice activation required.</em>"</p>
<p>"Thor," Thor said with a smile.</p>
<p>The computer beeped, "<em>Access denied.</em>"</p>
<p>Thor, Vanitas, and even Sora frowned at that.</p>
<p>"Uh... Thor, son of Odin," Thor tried.</p>
<p>The computer beeped again, "<em>Access denied</em>."</p>
<p>"God of Thunder," Thor tried.</p>
<p>The computer beeped again, "<em>Access denied</em>."</p>
<p>"Strongest Avenger," Thor attempted as Sora and Vanitas shared a confused expression.</p>
<p>The computer beeped again, "<em>Access denied</em>."</p>
<p>"Strongest Avenger," Thor repeated, enunciating each syllable with a deeper voice.</p>
<p>The computer beeped again, "<em>Access denied</em>."</p>
<p>Vanitas brushed Thor aside and pressed his hand against the scanner.</p>
<p>"Vanitas," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>The computer beeped again, "<em>Access denied</em>."</p>
<p>Vanitas and Sora shared a confused look.</p>
<p>"V?" Vanitas suggested.</p>
<p>The computer beeped again, "<em>Access denied</em>."</p>
<p>"Damn you, Stark," Thor sighed out before placing his hand back on the scanner. "Point Break."</p>
<p>The Quinjet started turning itself on again, saying, "<em>Welcome, Point Break.</em>"</p>
<p>Thor chuckled in victory.</p>
<p>"Oh, I'm probably Scarface," Vanitas commented, looking at Sora. "And you're probably Kid Keyslinger." <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Their attentions were drawn to the walls and roof as lights turned on, signaling that the Quinjet was turning on. The trio laughed as the engines powered up.</p>
<p>"Now we're in business," Sora laughed with Thor.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, a large rumbling drew their attention to the back of the ship, and their eyes went wide at the sight of the back half being ripped apart. A silhouette of Hulk stood in the center of the light shining into the jet.</p>
<p>"Friends stay!" Hulk bellowed.</p>
<p>"No, no, no!" Thor exclaimed, pointing a hand at Hulk as the green giant walked into the Quinjet, his head bumping into and damaging the ceiling. "Stop!"</p>
<p>"Stay!" Hulk repeated, continuing to walk into the Quinjet and damaging it with his large frame, powering it down.</p>
<p>"Hulk, stop walking!" Sora exclaimed.</p>
<p>"You're fucking everything up!" Vanitas exclaimed with the same wide eyed surprise.</p>
<p>"You're breaking everything!" Thor exclaimed, reaching for the main ship console desperately.</p>
<p>"Don't go!" Hulk bellowed, continuing to walk forwards and breaking apart more of the ceiling.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas exclaimed in slight fear as Thor started pressing buttons on the console. He slammed his palm against a couple of buttons, but that ended up being the right choice. A digital screen popped up, and an image of Natasha Romanoff appeared.</p>
<p>"<em>Nice work, big guy</em>," the recording of Natasha complimented, getting Hulk to pause and look at her in amazement. "<em>We don't know where Ultron's headed, but you're going very high, very fast. So, I need you to turn this bird around, okay? </em>" Hulk stepped forwards in a much more gentle manner and reached hopefully for the image of Natasha. "<em>We can't track you in stealth mode, so... I need you to help me out, okay?</em> "</p>
<p>Tears appeared in the corners of Hulk's eyes, and he shook his head as the image of Natasha distorted a bit, repeating, "<em>I need you to...</em>"</p>
<p>Hulk exclaimed as he tried shaking his head. He punched himself in the face twice, confusing Thor and Sora. Vanitas figured out what was happening quickly, though. Hulk crashed himself into the nearest wall and roared out before crashing into the opposite wall, shrinking slightly and turning less green before growing back to size again. He crashed into the first wall again and shrunk down a bit again before moving towards the other wall.</p>
<p>"No!" Hulk bellowed. "No, Banner!"</p>
<p>Thor, Sora, and Vanitas watched with wide eyes as Hulk shrunk down a bit before growing back to size again and bellowing before he crashed into the wall a bit further down the jet before shrinking slightly again and growing back to normal size. Hulk then fell down onto his hands and knees as his skin changed into a mixture of peach and green as he started shrinking again.</p>
<p>"Oh, jeez," a mixed voice came out of Hulk's voice as he continued shrinking, changing back into a panting Bruce Banner.</p>
<p>"Holy shit," Vanitas exclaimed in surprise.</p>
<p>"Banner?" Thor asked as the three of them started stepping forwards.</p>
<p>"Bruce?" Sora asked as they got closer to their friend.</p>
<p>"Hey, hey, hey," Thor said gently, reaching out for their groaning friend on the ground. "You all right, Banner?"</p>
<p>Thor placed a hand on Bruce's shoulder blade, and the scientist gasped in surprise as he crawled away, looking towards the trio in surprise with his eyes closed. To try to keep Bruce calm, Thor shushed in a comforting manner.</p>
<p>"Sun's going down," Thor said. "Sun's going down."</p>
<p>"Imagine the rays of sunlight shining down on flowers in a grassy field," Sora suggested as Bruce opened his eyes. "That'll help create a peaceful image."</p>
<p>"That's it, breathe," Vanitas said as Bruce looked around in surprise.</p>
<p>"I won't hurt you," Thor assured Bruce as he groaned and placed his hand to his head. "Sun's going down."</p>
<p>"Thor," Bruce said, squinting before slowly opening his eyes. "Sora. V."</p>
<p>"Hey, buddy," Vanitas said, pulling Bruce in for a hug, which the scientist quickly took.</p>
<p>"What happened to your hair?" Bruce asked Thor, coming away from the hug.</p>
<p>"Some creepy old man cut it off," Thor admitted.</p>
<p>"It looks good," Bruce said.</p>
<p>"It really does," Vanitas agreed as Sora also nodded in agreement.</p>
<p>"Oh, thanks," Thor said.</p>
<p>"Where are we?" Bruce asked, looking around. "Oh, how's Nat?"</p>
<p>"Uh, Nat is good, I'm sure," Thor said.</p>
<p>"Is she okay?" Bruce breathed out, looking down before looking up again. "And what about Sokovia?"</p>
<p>"Sokovia?" Thor asked.</p>
<p>"The city, Sokovia," Bruce said, gesturing towards the console. "Did we save it?"</p>
<p>"Uh..." Vanitas and Sora said simultaneously, sharing a confused look since they didn't know what to say.</p>
<p>"Banner, listen," Thor said, knowing he would probably have to put this delicately.</p>
<p>"What?" Bruce asked.</p>
<p>"Sokovia, Ultron, that was two years ago," Thor said.</p>
<p>"Well, two months for us," Vanitas admitted. "But we live in a different galaxy where times flows differently."</p>
<p>"What are you saying?" Bruce asked.</p>
<p>"Well..." Thor said, trailing off.</p>
<p>"What?" Thor asked before sitting up. He placed a hand to his bare chest. "I've been Hulk for two years?"</p>
<p>"I'm afraid so," Thor said.</p>
<p>"Damn, I thought you guys had so much better control working together with that," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"So did I," Bruce said, looking down in confusion at the large, beaded necklace around his neck. He took it off and frowned in confusion at the wrappings around his waist and looked at his friends again. "What the hell happened?"</p>
<p>He stood up and kept the wrappings tight around his waist as he walked over to the console.</p>
<p>"Uh, Bruce..." Sora started delicately.</p>
<p>"There's something you should know," Thor said as they stood up and followed Bruce to the console.</p>
<p>Bruce walked up to the console and placed his hand onto the scanner. "<em>Voice activation required</em>."</p>
<p>"Banner," Bruce said as the other three stepped up next to him.</p>
<p>The computer came to life and beeped, "<em>Welcome, strongest Avenger</em>."</p>
<p>"Uh, what?" Thor asked, frowning in confusion.</p>
<p>"Thor," Sora said, looking at Thor with an expression making it clear that that wasn't important.</p>
<p>"Ship's log," Bruce told the computer.</p>
<p>A screen appeared above the scanner, showing an old recording of what was most likely Hulk flying the ship into space. Hulk was dangling from the console as items fell back past him and the lights flared red. Hulk kept exclaiming, and Bruce winced at his alter ego's past actions. As Hulk looked into the camera, his face and the reflection of Bruce's face melded together. An alarm blaring in the distance garnered Sora and Vanitas's attentions.</p>
<p>"Guys, where are we?" Bruce asked, still looking down at the console, but with a suspicious expression.</p>
<p>"Yeah, about that," Thor said as the scientist started looking up.</p>
<p>"Try not to freak out," Vanitas suggested. Remembering what they were about to tell their friend, he added, "Too much."</p>
<p>"<em>Sakaar, hear me</em>," the Grandmaster's voice announced from speakers far in the distance, getting the quartet's attention. "<em>Attention, please. I have some bad news</em>."</p>
<p>They looked out of the windshield in front of them to see the man projected onto the tower high above them.</p>
<p>"<em>My beloved exalted champion has turned up missing</em>," the Grandmaster said. "<em>Take to the streets. Celebrate my champion</em>."</p>
<p>"Who's that?" Bruce asked.</p>
<p>"An asshole that looks like Jeff Goldblum," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"He kind of runs the place," Thor admitted. "You actually lived in his house for a while."</p>
<p>"I did?" Bruce asked, surprised.</p>
<p>"Yeah, you were a jerk," Sora commented.</p>
<p>"Quite a lot's happened," Thor said. "The three of us fought you recently."</p>
<p>"Did I win?" Bruce asked.</p>
<p>"No, we won," Thor smirked. "Easily."</p>
<p>"Doesn't sound right," Bruce commented with a frown.</p>
<p>"We were winning, but since the guy has these torture devices attached to all his prisoners, we were shocked to the ground before we could finish," Sora explained, and Thor sighed out as he looked down.</p>
<p>"It really hurt," Vanitas admitted, rubbing his neck as he remembered pain. "And Hulk didn't even care that they weren't true victories."</p>
<p>"That sounds right," Bruce commented.</p>
<p>"It seems that the criminally seductive Lord of Thunder and Bladekey wielders have stolen him away," the Grandmaster continued.</p>
<p>"Seductive God of Thunder," Thor corrected with an angry expression.</p>
<p>"That's important?" Vanitas countered with a raised eyebrow.</p>
<p>"We need to move," Thor told Bruce before moving back further down the ship with Sora.</p>
<p>"Oh, no," Bruce said, placing a hand to his temple.</p>
<p>"Hey, what's wrong?" Vanitas asked with a sympathetic expression, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.</p>
<p>"This is bad," Bruce panted out. "This is really, really bad."</p>
<p>Thor and Sora kneeled down to the pile of clothes on the ground, Thor grabbing a cloak for himself while Sora grabbed a beanie.</p>
<p>"Guys, I think I'm freaking out," Bruce commented, a hand on his chest.</p>
<p>"Hey, hey," Vanitas said in a comforting voice. "Remember those breathing techniques I taught you to help calm down."</p>
<p>"Those were breathing techniques you give a woman in labor," Bruce commented, looking at Vanitas.</p>
<p>"They worked, didn't they?" Vanitas asked, holding out his hands to his side while tilting his head to the side.</p>
<p>"Yeah, they did," Bruce agreed as he frowned in remembrance. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<p>He started breathing in the pattern that Vanitas had showed him, but that didn't do anything to quell his surprise.</p>
<p>"It's not working," Bruce admitted.</p>
<p>"Well, that actually makes sense," Vanitas commented. "Back then, we were planning it for when you were in surprising situations, and there isn't really a situation more surprising than finding out you've been a prisoner in your own body on an alien planet for two years." He closed his eyes with a frown. "And I'm not helping. Sorry."</p>
<p>"Don't freak out," Thor said, walking forwards and pressing a bunch of clothes into Bruce's chest. "You're okay. Put these on."</p>
<p>"These are Tony's clothes," Bruce said, looking down at the shirt, pants, and jacket in his hands.</p>
<p>"It's all we got," Sora admitted, grabbing a robe and tossing it to Vanitas.</p>
<p>"The one downside to this thing not having a hood," Vanitas commented, gesturing to his jacket.</p>
<p>"Is Tony here?" Bruce asked Thor.</p>
<p>"No, he's not here," Thor said, placing his hands on Bruce's shoulders in a reassuring way. "But listen. Just stay calm, okay? The sun's going down. The sun's getting really low. Sun's going down."</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas chanted, "Sun's going down" to help, and Vanitas winced as he gripped his head for the vision. He saw Loki and Scrapper 142 meet with the Grandmaster and Topaz, and the two announced that they were gonna look for Thor, Vanitas, and Sora, with the Grandmaster chuckling at the concept of a competition between the two, before scratching a clearly uncomfortable Stitch on his head.</p>
<p>Loki and Scrapper 142 then went out of the room and started battling with their blades while talking about the escaped trio, when Loki noticed the Valkyrie tattoo on her forearm. Loki then decided that it would be interesting to restore her memories, which reminded her about when she and all of the other Valkyrie went against Hela, and all the others were slaughtered. She came out of her flashback and knocked Loki out, and Vanitas gasped as he came out of his vision.</p>
<p>"What'd you see?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>Vanitas looked at Thor. "Your brother's being a dick."</p>
<p>Thor sighed out, "What else is new?"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 That's just a red herring, it'll never happen</p>
<p>*2 I'm a lot better with the nicknames now than I was back in the Birth by Sleep story, aren't I? I figured those would have been good enough ones for Tony Stark to give them, particularly in the case of Vanitas</p>
<p>*3 They lived in the same building for a year, I figure they'd have built a pretty decent rapport during that time</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. The Devil's Anus</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After conspiring together, the group meets up with surprising allies and plan their escape...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I've gotten a lot better at writing over the years on this site. Multiple times this story alone I managed to convert 5-7 minute movie segments into 4,000+ word chapters. Progress much? That works 'cause there's only about 33 minutes left, since I'm not having V see the after credits scenes, and I want there to be quite a bit more story</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"The sun's going down," Thor repeated to Bruce as they walked into a market like area, with the former dressed in the shirt, pants, and jacket provided from the Quinjet. "The sun's getting really low."</p><p>"The light is gleaming down on a nice field of flowers," Sora added as Thor and Bruce sat down in a doorway, with himself and Vanitas kneeling down in front of their friends. "Imagine the smile on Nat's face when you come back to Earth with a full bouquet with those flowers."</p><p>"Great, now we gotta go to a flower shop before getting back to the compound," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Oh, shoot," Bruce said in surprise, placing his face in his hands.</p><p>"The sun's going down," Thor repeated with his hands on Bruce's shoulders. "It's getting really low."</p><p>"You're gonna be all right, buddy," Vanitas assured Bruce. "I promise."</p><p>"The sun's getting low," Thor repeated again.</p><p>"Would you stop saying that?" Bruce softly exclaimed with his still bewildered expression.</p><p>"We're trying to calm you down," Sora said.</p><p>"Calm?" Bruce asked. "I'm on an alien planet!"</p><p>"It's just a planet," Thor tried assuring Bruce. "You've been on a planet before."</p><p>"Yeah," Bruce agreed, still bewildered. He pointed out, "One."</p><p>"Well, now you've been on two," Thor commented with a reassuring voice. "That's a good thing. It's a good experience"</p><p>"Fourty-seven more, and we'll be even," Vanitas chuckled, patting Bruce on the shoulder. Bruce looked at him blandly, so the smile dropped from Vanitas's face. "I'm not helping."</p><p>"This is normal," Sora said. "I felt that the first time I visited a different world."</p><p>Bruce groaned a bit before placing his face in his hands again.</p><p>"My neurons, they're firing faster than my brain can handle the information," he said, running his hands up through his hair. He looked to the side with wide eyes. "The whole thing is totally different this time."</p><p>"What do you mean?" Vanitas asked, concern in his voice.</p><p>"It's just, in the past, I always felt like Hulk and I each had a hand on the wheel," Bruce said, gesturing with his hands like he was grabbing a wheel. "But this time, it's like he had the keys to the car and I was locked in the trunk."</p><p>"All right, well, you're back now," Thor assured Bruce. "That's all that matters."</p><p>"No, it's not what matters," Bruce rebutted. "What I'm trying to tell you, is that... that if I turn into the Hulk again, Banner my never come back. And we're stranded on a planet that is designed to stress me out."</p><p>"Shit!" Vanitas exclaimed, now afraid for his friend. He quickly said, "The sun's going down. It's getting pretty low on that field."</p><p>"Stop saying that; it's not helping," Bruce said.</p><p>"Look, we're not stranded," Thor told Bruce. "I'm gonna figure out a way to get us home."</p><p>"Thank you," Bruce said, gratefully.</p><p>"Not your home, though," Thor admitted. "Asgard. My home."</p><p>"What?" Bruce asked with a confused frown.</p><p>"Thor, I think we can pause that for a bit to take Bruce back to Earth," Sora commented.</p><p>"The longer we take to get back to Asgard, the more my people are gonna suffer," Thor said. He looked at Bruce. "Listen, my people are in great danger. The four of us, we have to fight this really powerful being, who also happens to be my sister, and her lackeys, a fairy and a cat."</p><p>"Okay, that is so wrong on so many..." Bruce started before he shook his head and gestured to himself. "I don't wanna fight your sister. That's a- that's a family issue."</p><p>"No, she's an evil being," Thor countered, shaking his head.</p><p>"I don't care what she is," Bruce remarked. "I'm not fighting any more beings. I'm sick of it."</p><p>"Yeah, I think the guy's earned the right to his leave," Vanitas commented, agreeing with his old roommate.</p><p>"It's just now occurring to me that you're a little selfish, Thor," Sora added, agreeing with his cousin.</p><p>"What?" Thor asked with a confused frown.</p><p>"I just told you," Bruce said with an offended voice. "If I turn into the Hulk, I am never gonna come back again. And you don't care."</p><p>"No, no, no," Thor stuttered out. "I'm putting together the team. The Hulk is the fire."</p><p>"Wait, you're just using me to get to the Hulk," Bruce assessed.</p><p>"What?" Thor asked.</p><p>"It's gross," Bruce said, looking away from Thor.</p><p>"Is it offensive because it's true?" Vanitas asked Thor, frowning at him in a reprimanding manner.</p><p>"No, you guys got the wrong idea," Thor said, trying to smile to relieve the tension that had grown.</p><p>"You don't care about me," Bruce accused Thor. "You're not my friend."</p><p>"No!" Thor denied, gesturing with his hand to Bruce. "I don't even like the Hulk. He's all like..." He lifted his fists and growled, imitating Hulk. "'Smash, smash, smash'. I prefer you."</p><p>He pointed at Bruce as he said the last bit, and Sora and Vanitas both raised an eyebrow at their friend behind Bruce's back.</p><p>"Thanks," Bruce said, still looking down.</p><p>"But if I'm being honest..." Thor said with a begrudged expression. "When it comes to fighting evil beings, he is very powerful and useful."</p><p>"He's got a point there," Sora admitted as Bruce looked down and shook his head.</p><p>"Yeah, Banner's powerful and useful, too," Bruce rebutted, looking at Thor.</p><p>"Is he, though," Thor asked with a small smirk that quickly disappeared.</p><p>"Yeah, he is," Vanitas said. "You know how many training modules this guy showed through the computer? Or how many times he led us to victory against the baddies in the co-op Resident Evil games?"</p><p>"Yeah," Bruce said, gesturing to Vanitas before looking at Thor. "Let me tell you, how many PhD's does Hulk have? Zero." He made the number with his thumb and pointer finger. "How many PhD's does Banner have. Seven."</p><p>"What's a PhD?" Sora asked.</p><p>"You want the official meaning, or the Urban meaning?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>"Is the urban meaning inappropriate?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Very," Vanitas and Bruce said simultaneously.</p><p>"Fine, you don't have to fight anymore," Thor sighed out, looking down. "But we're still in danger here, so we have to move."</p><p>He stood up and walked to a nearby bin, pulling out a blanket. Bruce frowned in confusion and stood up with Vanitas and Sora, the latter still wearing the beanie and the former wrapping his own robe around himself.</p><p>"What are you guys doing with those?" Bruce asked, looking between his friends, confused.</p><p>"We need disguises," Thor said, wrapping the blanket around himself. "Friends Sora and V and I are fugitives."</p><p>"I need a disguise," Bruce said, reaching into his pocket.</p><p>"You are the disguise," Thor said, putting the blanket on top of his head.</p><p>"The people here only know you as Hulk, they don't know who Bruce Banner is," Vanitas added.</p><p>But Bruce had already taken out a pair of spectacles.</p><p>"I'll be Tony Stark," Bruce said, unfolding the glasses.</p><p>"What?" Thor asked, confused, as Bruce slipped on the glasses.</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked as Vanitas slipped on his own hood.</p><p>"Yeah," Bruce said, looking among the three. "Tony, the gypsies, and the emo teen."</p><p>"Hey, I'm the emo teen," Vanitas said, offended. "Sora, switch disguises with me."</p><p>"No," Sora said, stopping Vanitas's reached hand from grabbing the beanie. "The disguises aren't important right now."</p><p>Thor didn't get that message.</p><p>"No, no, you're not Tony," he told Bruce. "You're Bruce. Bruce Banner."</p><p>"Then why did you dress me up like Tony?" Bruce countered.</p><p>"Because you were naked," Thor remarked.</p><p>"Okay, I'll give you that," Bruce said with an understanding voice, cocking his head to the side for a second.</p><p>"Yeah, that's a pretty good reason to do that, buddy," Vanitas commented. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>Bruce paused and made a face as he started adjusting his pants.</p><p>"What are you doing?" Thor asked, reaching for Bruce's arms. "Stop doing that!"</p><p>"Tony wears his pants super tight," Bruce admitted.</p><p>"That never made sense to me," Vanitas commented. "The guy's five foot nine, but he wears pants that would fit me or Sora."</p><p>"And you guys are both half a foot shorter than him," Bruce said, gesturing with one hand to the cousins to emphasize his point.</p><p>"Stop it!" Thor told Bruce as the scientist stopped. "We're trying to blend in."</p><p>"I'm sorry," Bruce said, looking to the side.</p><p>"Why are you being so weird?" Thor asked, keeping the blanket on his head with his hands.</p><p>"I don't know," Bruce snapped, malice rising in his voice as he looked at Thor. "Maybe the fact I was trapped for two years inside of a monster made me a little weird."</p><p>As he had spoke, green appeared on his temple and neck, and he leaned forwards and finished his exclaim with a mixture of his voice and Hulk's voice.</p><p>"Hey," Thor said in a comforting voice, placing his hands gently on Bruce's shoulders. "Shh. It's okay."</p><p>"Calm down, buddy," Vanitas said, trying to keep Bruce calm, both out of not wanting angry Hulk to try to pulverize him, and to not end up losing a longtime friend. "If you turn into Hulk again, you'll never come back. How will you and Nat have sex then?" He paused. "Wait, how would that work when you can turn into him... You know what, not important."</p><p>'<em>RDJ probably had a point on Avengers Family Feud</em>,' Vanitas thought. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong> </p><p>"Look, you're good," Sora told Bruce in a reassuring voice, brushing off his confusion at Vanitas's words. "You're all right, you're still Bruce."</p><p>"Come on," Thor said, turning Bruce around and wrapping an arm around the scientist's shoulders. "Listen, we're gonna go to Asgard, and you're not going to have to think about the Hulk ever again."</p><p>"Maybe if you do what you did before Nat found you, and go long enough without turning into Hulk, you'll be okay," Vanitas suggested.</p><p>"We'll make sure that happens," Sora assured Bruce as they walked down the alley. "We'll make sure Hulk is the last thing on your mind."</p><p>"All right?" Thor asked Bruce as they stepped out of the alley, a hand on the scientist's shoulder.</p><p>"All right," Bruce agreed, turning around.</p><p>But then green dust hit Bruce right in the face within similarly green smoke. Thor and Sora blinked through the smoke while Bruce took off his dust stained glasses while spitting out some dust that had gotten in his mouth.</p><p>"Uh, oh," Sora said, eyes wide at the sight in front of them.</p><p>"Ain't that just the definition of irony?" Vanitas commented.</p><p>People in the marketplace in front of them were all cheering and chanting, "Hulk!" while carrying hand made paper mache replicas of the green giant's face and with green paint or dust on them to emphasize their love for their Champion.</p><p>"Oh, this is bad," Thor said, dread in his voice.</p><p>Looking around in worry, they were surprised to see that Bruce had disappeared in the crowd. Unfortunately, what looked like one of the Grandmaster's guard was also eying them from the end of the alley they just left. Sora kept his head down while Thor and Vanitas tightened the wraps on their head, and Vanitas lifted up the bandana around his neck to cover his mouth and nose.</p><p>"Banner!" Thor called out as they started moving through the crowd. "Banner!"</p><p>"Bruce!" Vanitas called out.</p><p>"Bruce, where are you?" Sora yelled through the cheering.</p><p>They continued through the market place, finding themselves on a part that overlooked a central like area, where people were somehow even more enthusiastic with flags for Hulk, fireworks shooting up, Hulk masks on their faces, and green smoke in the air covering their heads.</p><p>"That can't be good for the environment," Vanitas commented.</p><p>They started down a nearby staircase to reach the lower level, and paused at the sight of Bruce not too far away.</p><p>"Banner!" Thor called out.</p><p>"Over here!" Vanitas exclaimed, waving to his scientist friend.</p><p>"Thor! V! Sora!" Bruce called out, taking a few steps backwards in the crowd.</p><p>Unfortunately, he wasn't paying too much attention to where he was walking and bumped into someone, making a cape drop to the ground. Bruce turned around with a small relieved smile from having seen the others, but that dropped when the alien he bumped into stood up to full height, which turned out to be around the same height as Hulk, and turned around, an angry expression on it's freaky looking face. It growled in anger, but Thor, Sora, and Vanitas ran up in defense. Sora pulled Bruce out of the way while Thor and Vanitas stepped between their friend and the alien.</p><p>"Bring it on, bitch," Vanitas taunted as he and Thor shot the alien fierce expressions.</p><p>But then a circular device on its neck flared up, electrocuting it to the ground. When it was down, Scrapper 142 was standing in its place with her hands on her waist, looking at the trio with her usual impassive expression.</p><p>"Hi," Thor said.</p><p>"Hi," Scrapper 142 greeted back.</p><p>"I was gonna do that," Thor commented, gesturing to the downed alien.</p><p>"Then I was gonna burn its face, like this guy I knew, Jarra," Vanitas added.</p><p>"Yeah, well, I did it first," Scrapper 142 countered with a small, genuine smile.</p><p>"That's good," Thor said. "What are you doing here?"</p><p>"What are you still doing here?" Scrapper 142 asked, looking at Bruce curiously. "I thought you were leaving."</p><p>"We weren't gonna leave without our friends," Sora said.</p><p>"Plus, Hulk fucked up our only ship," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"What's with the..." Scrapper 142 asked, gesturing to Thor's blanket, Vanitas's robe, and Sora's beanie.</p><p>"It's our disguises," Thor said.</p><p>"We figured the only thing he'd use to describe us was 'crazy hair'," Sora admitted.</p><p>"But I can still see all three of your faces," Scrapper 142 commented.</p><p>"Not when I do this, you can't," Thor countered, covering his face with the blanket.</p><p>Vanitas smirked, completely understanding how it was this movie that people started liking Thor in. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>"Your hair looks nice," Thor told Scrapper 142, not knowing what to say. "I like what you did with it. Change it? Washed it maybe?"</p><p>'<em>Isn't that her same haircut?</em>' Sora thought, looking at Vanitas.</p><p>'<em>Yeah, he just doesn't know what to say, so he's stalling for time,</em>' Vanitas thought back.</p><p>Scrapper 142 shook her head with a smirk and turned around, walking down the road. The group of four watched her go until she looked back and gestured down that road with her head, giving a message that they should follow her. So, they did, following her out of the open area and down another alleyway with arches over them. Luckily, this road wasn't as crowded as the one they just left, so they didn't have to stand in each others' personal space to stay together.</p><p>"What are those things on her eyes?" Bruce whispered to his friends. "Are those the people that she's killed?"</p><p>"No, man, it's just face paint for battle," Vanitas said as he took off his robe.</p><p>"Apparently, they really like it here," Sora added, taking off his beanie.</p><p>"She's so beautiful and strong and courageous," Bruce commented, wiping off his face with the blanket Thor had.</p><p>"Who is this guy?" Scrapper 142 asked as she led the quartet into a room.</p><p>"Uh, he's a friend," Thor stammered out as Bruce asked, "Who? Me?"</p><p>"I'm Bruce," Bruce said, taking the blanket from Thor as he wiped the remains of the dust off of his face.</p><p>"I feel like I know you," Scrapper 142 admitted.</p><p>"I feel like I know you, too," Bruce admitted as Thor threw aside the blanket, and they followed Scrapper 142 down a hallway.</p><p>The chattering in the marketplace quieted down as Scrapper 142 led them down the hallway to the end, where there was a window in front of them and a closed door next to them. Scrapper 142 stopped next to the door and turned to face the boys.</p><p>"Look, I've spent years in a haze, trying to forget my past," she admitted. Thor hummed in thought as he took in her words. "Sakaar seemed like the best place to drink and forget, and to die one day."</p><p>"I was thinking that you drink too much, and that probably was gonna kill you," Thor admitted.</p><p>"I don't plan to stop drinking," Scrapper 142 told him.</p><p>"Oh," Thor said, and Vanitas slapped him on the back for jumping to conclusions.</p><p>"But I don't wanna forget," Scrapper 142 continued. "I can't turn away anymore, so, if I'm gonna die, well, it may as well be driving my sword through the heart of that murderous hag."</p><p>"Nice," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Good," Thor agreed, sharing a look with Bruce and Sora.</p><p>"So, I'm saying that I wanna be on the team," Scrapper 142 told them. "Has it got a name?"</p><p>"Yeah, it's called the..." Thor started, realizing he didn't have anything. He stuttered as he said, "Revengers."</p><p>"Revengers?" Scrapper 142 asked, frowning in confusion.</p><p>"And now Tony's gonna sue you for copyright," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Because I'm getting revenge," Thor told Scrapper 142, ignoring Vanitas. "You're getting revenge." Scrapper 142 made a face that showed that she understood the name now. Thor looked at Sora and Vanitas. "The two of you are getting revenge for what Maleficent and Pete have done to your friends."</p><p>"Can't have too much revenge," Vanitas smirked, while Sora frowned, remembering what revenge had done to that Randall guy.</p><p>Thor stuttered a bit as he looked at Bruce.</p><p>"Do you want revenge?" he asked.</p><p>"I'm undecided," Bruce admitted as he stammered a bit.</p><p>"Okay," Thor smiled, looking from Bruce to Scrapper 142.</p><p>"Also, I've got a peace offering," she added with a smile.</p><p>She opened the door next to them to reveal a slightly trashed apartment. But their attentions were drawn to Loki chained up and sitting on a large, circular piece of stone in front of them.</p><p>"Surprise," Loki said in a grand gesture like voice.</p><p>The group walked in, with Scrapper 142 walking past the kitchen and to an open closet and Bruce and Thor wearing incredulous expressions. Sora and Vanitas weren't that surprised since apparently, the trickster was used to this kind of thing. Suspicious, Thor grabbed an empty bottle nearby and chucked it at his brother's head. It Hit Loki's head and fell to the ground with a clatter.</p><p>"Ow," Loki commented.</p><p>"Just had to be sure," Thor commented as Bruce kept looking at Loki incredulously.</p><p>"After the stuff in the cell, you can't deny it was a fair assessment," Vanitas commented.</p><p>After adjusting his pants again, Bruce followed the others into the room.</p><p>"Hello, Bruce," Loki said with a smile as Bruce walked up to him.</p><p>"So, last time I saw you, you were trying to kill everybody," Bruce commented as Thor walked to the kitchen with Scrapper 142 and Sora and Vanitas stepped up behind the scientist to watch over him. "What are you at these days?"</p><p>"It varies from moment to moment," Loki admitted.</p><p>Bruce went slightly wide eyed.</p><p>"Wait, something just occurred to me," Vanitas said with a frown. He gestured to Loki. "You and Hela... you both love green, you both have black hair, you're both a little insane with obsessions to rule Asgard..." He looked at Thor, still frowning. "Thor... are you sure <em>you're</em> not the adopted one?" <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>Thor paused, as if he was thinking about that himself. Loki even got the same expression as he thought about it, himself.</p><p>"Maybe when Odin picked me up, I subconsciously looked into his mind and projected myself into someone who reminded him of her," Loki suggested.</p><p>"You were a baby," Thor commented. "Do you really think you were that calculated as a baby?"</p><p>He paused as he remembered who they were talking about. But then his attention was drawn to the side as Scrapper 142 walked back from the closet, carrying a sword in a sheath that was wrapped in a blue fabric case, which she set down on a counter.</p><p>"Is that a Dragonfang?" Thor asked, incredulously.</p><p>"it is," Scrapper 142 confirmed, walking across the room.</p><p>"My god," Thor said in amazement, pulling the sword out of the sheath. "This is the famed sword of the Valkyrie."</p><p>"We should probably change your code name to Valkyrie instead," Sora suggested.</p><p>"I don't mind that," <em>Valkyrie</em> admitted with a smile. She changed her expression back to a serious one. "So, Sakaar and Asgard are about as far apart as any two known systems." She walked past Loki. "Our best bet is a wormhole just outside of city limits. Refuel on Xandar, and we can be back in Asgard in..." She thought for a bit. "...eighteen months."</p><p>"Okay, it'd be nice to go back to Xandar, but we don't have eighteen months," Sora said.</p><p>"No, we do not," Thor agreed while Bruce and Vanitas ate some food they found in the kitchen. "We are going through the big one."</p><p>He gestured to the largest wormhole out in the distance with the sword, the one of large grey clouds with red light and smoke spewing down.</p><p>"The Devil's Anus?" Valkyrie asked.</p><p>"Anus?" Bruce asked through a full mouth as he and Vanitas looked up. "Wait, wait, wait, whose anus?"</p><p>"What's an anus?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Your ass hole," Vanitas said through a bite of a strange looking fruit.</p><p>"Ew," Sora commented with a disgusted face.</p><p>"For the record, I didn't know it was called that when I picked it," Thor admitted as Valkyrie sighed out.</p><p>"Hey, we were instructed to go through the largest door to get out of here," Vanitas commented as Valkyrie walked past them to a table, grabbing a laser blaster. "That technically is the largest door."</p><p>"That looks like a collapsing neutron star inside of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge," Bruce commented, gesturing with one hand to the wormhole while holding the taco like object he was eating in the other.</p><p>"We need another ship," Valkyrie announced, walking forwards and gesturing to the wormhole with a bottle of booze. "That would tear mine to pieces."</p><p>"She's right," Thor agreed. "We need one that can withstand the geodetic strain from the singularity."</p><p>"And has an offline power steering system, that could also function without the on-board computer," Bruce added while Valkyrie took a swing from her bottle of alcohol.</p><p>"And we need one with cupholders because we're gonna die," Valkyrie said. "So drinks!"</p><p>She smiled as she walked back towards the kitchen, and Bruce and Thor watched her go.</p><p>"Do I know you?" Bruce asked. "I feel like I know you."</p><p>"I feel like I know you, too," Valkyrie admitted with a smile. "It's weird."</p><p>"The Gummi ship can probably fulfill those requirements," Vanitas admitted. "We just have to find it."</p><p>"But we've also gotta get out Donald, Goofy, and Stitch," Sora said. "We're not leaving them behind."</p><p>"We'll get them," Thor promised them before looking at Bruce. "What do you say? Uncharted metagalactic travel through a volatile cosmic gateway. Talk about an adventure."</p><p>Thor held up a fist, and Bruce bumped it with a wide smile.</p><p>"We need a ship," Bruce announced as they turned to look at Valkyrie.</p><p>"Need a ship," Thor agreed.</p><p>"And I need my weapons," Vanitas said, lifting up his sling. He sighed out sadly as he looked at the item. "I am sorry."</p><p>Thor, Bruce, and Sora's eyes widened as Vanitas tore apart the sling, making his machete, fire axe, sledgehammer, spear, staff, bowie knife, Michael Myers knife, a Beretta 92F, a Sadu ASALT 96, the Micro Uzi, a Mossberg 500 shotgun with a pistol grip, and his bag fell onto the counter.</p><p>"Never thought you'd do that," Bruce commented with wide eyes.</p><p>"Well, the sling was a little annoying," Vanitas admitted. "It was enlarged just to hold my immediate weapons for me to grab. The really important thing was the satchel since that's got the access to the armory and the cooler. Speaking of which."</p><p>He reached into his satchel and pulled out his cooler, opening it and pulling out a bottle of water, guzzling it down to get the taste of the rotten orange juice out of his mouth. He gasped as he finished the bottle in one go before stuffing the cooler, his weapons, and the pieces of his sling into the bag, keeping the Beretta and the Sadu ASALT hidden on himself in preparation.</p><p>"There are one or two ships for if we can't find your ship," Valkyrie said. "I admittedly don't remember the path I took to pick you and your friends up." Sora and Vanitas frowned. "But these ships, they are absolute top of the line models..."</p><p>"I don't mean to impose..." Loki started. Valkyrie chucked the bottle towards him, and it shattered on the wall behind Loki, sending shards of glass all around. Loki was undeterred, though. "But the Grandmaster has a great many ships. I may have even stolen the access codes to his security system."</p><p>"And suddenly you're overcome with an urge to do the right thing," Valkyrie commented.</p><p>"Your track record is betraying you, dude," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Heavens, no," Loki corrected them. "I've run out of favor with the Grandmaster, and in exchange for codes and access to a ship, I'm asking for safe passage... through the Anus."</p><p>"You're telling us that you can get us access into the garage, without setting off any alarms?" Thor asked.</p><p>"Yes, brother," Loki said. "I can."</p><p>"He did help us escape Asgard and get to the Dark World and Malekith," Vanitas reminded Thor.</p><p>"Okay, can I just..." Bruce said, walking forwards and whistling. "A quick FYI." The others gathered around him while Loki looked away with a small smirk. "I was just talking to him just a couple minutes ago, and he was totally ready to any kill us."</p><p>"Which is understandable," Sora admitted. "Last time we saw him, I attacked him with a combo attack and Hulk smashed him into the floor a bunch."</p><p>"He did try to kill me," Valkyrie pointed out, looking at Thor.</p><p>"Yes, me too," Thor agreed. "On many, many occasions." He looked at Loki, and Loki sighed out as he looked away. "There was one time when we were children, he transformed himself into a snake, and he knows that I love snakes. So, I went to pick up the snake to admire it, and he transformed back to himself and he was like, 'Yeah, it was me!' And he stabbed me. We were eight at the time."</p><p>Sora, Bruce, and Vanitas frowned as they looked at Loki with Thor.</p><p>"If we're boosting a ship, we're gonna need to draw some guards away from the palace," Valkyrie told them.</p><p>"Why not send the beast loose?" Loki asked, still looking down.</p><p>"Shut up," Thor told his brother.</p><p>"Not an option," Sora added.</p><p>"You guys have a beast?" Valkyrie asked with a smile, looking between the four.</p><p>"No, there's no beast," Thor said. "He's just being stupid. We're going to start a revolution."</p><p>"Revolution?" Bruce asked.</p><p>"We'll explain later," Thor told him.</p><p>"Who's this guy again?" Valkyrie asked Thor.</p><p>"We'll explain later," Thor repeated.</p><p>"Give it time, everything will be explained," Vanitas said. He then frowned as he just sensed something. "Huh."</p><p>"What is it?" Sora asked.</p><p>"This is totally random, but I just sensed what these guys' ages are in human years," Vanitas said, gesturing to Loki and Thor. "You know, like how a dog can be 10 but be 70 in human years. But in human years, 1500 year old Thor here is only 23."</p><p>"Whoa," Bruce said, a surprised expression on his face.</p><p>"That is a lot younger than I expected," Sora commented.</p><p>"What about Loki?" Thor asked.</p><p>"This is the most surprising," Vanitas said. "He's 17."</p><p>Everyone frowned.</p><p>"You mean this whole time, he's just been in a whiny, emo phase?" Bruce asked. <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p><p>"Everyone handles their emo phases differently," Vanitas commented. "I made pipe bombs and blew up vases in a scrap yard."</p><p>Thor, Valkyrie, and Bruce frowned at that.</p><p>"The point is, we need all the help we can get," Vanitas said. "And another psycho that can make copies of himself can come in handy."</p><p>"You're not wrong," Thor admitted as he sighed out. "All right. Let's do this."</p><p>The makeshift team started preparing to carry out the plan...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I forgot how much I enjoyed having scenes of V and Bruce together</p><p>*2 When promoting the first Avengers movie, the main six went on one of those interview shows (I think Jimmy Kimmel's, where they did Avengers Family Feud. They were asked what the worst place to turn into Hulk would be. Robert Downey Jr said the bedroom, and while his teammates, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Hemsworth, agreed, the other three, Chris Evens, Jeremy Renner, and Mark Ruffalo, argued that that was the best place. I'm gonna have to agree with Iron Man, Black Widow, and Thor</p><p>*3 I saw on Instagram that people only started liking Iron Man in his first movie, Captain America in his second movie, and Thor in his third movie. Not gonna lie, watching the first Captain America movie, and the first two Thor movies, I see why</p><p>*4 I've seen that meme like, a dozen times, and wanted to incorporate it. It's not bad if you want a laugh</p><p>*5 I found a post that showed a discord discussion about this, which included pictures of the brothers from this very movie. The emo phase part was from the discussion, with it being a response from someone on the page</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. The Revolution</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After Valkyrie frees their friends, the group escapes from Sakaar...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Back in the circular hallway shaped jail cell, a sad Donald and Goofy were sitting next to Korg, who was looking at Meik crouched down next to him. There were small piles of what looked like skin flakes on the ground underneath Miek, which Korg was looking at in confusion.</p>
<p>"Is that some sort of protoplasm, all the stuff that's coming out of you..." Korg started, pointing at the piles on the floor. "Or are they eggs?"</p>
<p>Meik looked down at the small piles, and Donald and Goofy exclaimed in disgust as they stared with him.</p>
<p>"Looks like eggs," Korg said.</p>
<p>"Remind me to never eat eggs again," Goofy commented.</p>
<p>"Noted," Donald said, pulling a notepad out of literally nowhere.</p>
<p>All of a sudden, the cell door nearby exploded, sending pieces of metal into the wall in front of it.</p>
<p>"Oh," Korg said in surprising nonchalance.</p>
<p>Everyone was even more surprised when the torture devices on their necks deactivated, falling to the floor with small clatters. Valkyrie walked into the room carrying the large blaster that she grabbed earlier.</p>
<p>"I'm looking for Korg, Captain Goofy, and Donald Duck," she announced.</p>
<p>"Who's asking?" Korg asked as he and everyone else started standing. The mentioned three walked up to her. "I know you're asking, just... Is anyone else asking, or is it just you?"</p>
<p>"The Lord of Thunder sends his best," Valkyrie smirked, tossing Korg the blaster.</p>
<p>Korg caught the blaster and cocked it, powering it up.</p>
<p>"Sora and V think it's time to get to Asgard to stop Hela and Maleficent," Valkyrie told Donald and Goofy with a smile.</p>
<p>"I couldn't agree more," Donald said as he and Goofy nodded their heads in agreement. "Let's take those bitches out."</p>
<p>"The revolution has begun," Korg announced proudly to his fellow prisoners.</p>
<hr/>
<p>"Revolution?" the Grandmaster asked Topaz as they walked down the throne room, walking Stitch with the leash in his hand, to the blue furred alien's discomfort. Guards and maidens around them were preparing their blasters for whatever would happen. "How did this happen?"</p>
<p>"Don't know," Topaz admitted. "But the arena's mainframe for the Obedience Disks has been deactivated, and the slaves have armed themselves."</p>
<p>"Oh," the Grandmaster said as he stopped walking, Topaz and Stitch stopping with him. "I don't like that word."</p>
<p>"Which?" Topaz asked. "Mainframe?"</p>
<p>"No," the Grandmaster said. He frowned in confusion. "Why would I not like 'mainframe'? No, the 'S' word."</p>
<p>"Sorry, the prisoners with jobs have armed themselves," Topaz corrected herself, annoyance in her voice.</p>
<p>The Grandmaster smiled.</p>
<p>"Okay, that's better," he said as they resumed their walk. "That's better."</p>
<p>"Idiot," Stitch commented, grumbling as he followed on all sixes.</p>
<p>"Hey," the Grandmaster said with an offended voice, looking down at Stitch, while Topaz smirked.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Meanwhile, Thor, Loki, Sora, and Vanitas had snuck into the palace, and were using Loki's access codes to open an advanced doorway. Vanitas had his Mossberg 500 in his hands in preparation, Sora had his Keyblade, and since Thor and Loki had just knocked out two guards, they had prepared the two mens' blasters to fire for when they needed it. Loki was pressing the buttons to open the door while Thor leaned against the opposite wall and Sora and Vanitas kept watch.</p>
<p>"Hey, so, listen," Thor said with his arms crossed as he looked at Loki. "We should talk."</p>
<p>"I disagree," Loki said, pausing and looking at Thor. He pressed the last button on the panel and the door slid open during his next words. "Open communication was never our family's forte."</p>
<p>"You have no idea," Thor agreed as they picked up the blasters and led the way through the doorway, Sora and Vanitas following behind. "Been quite the revelation since we last spoke."</p>
<p>They walked down the hallway to find a circular chamber with a purple statue of the Grandmaster in the center, a door opposite of them, and many soldiers standing in their way. Vanitas pumped his shotgun in preparation as Thor and Loki lifted up their blasters in preparation.</p>
<p>"Hello," Thor said, getting the soldiers' attentions.</p>
<p>"Hi," Loki said.</p>
<p>"Howdy," Vanitas added, pointing his shotgun.</p>
<p>Thor and Loki rapidly fired purple bursts out of their blasters while Vanitas fired his shotgun at the soldiers in front of them, making short work of the first bout of soldiers. Others retaliated with green blasts from their own guns, but the four took cover behind corners attached to the hallways, protecting them from the green energy bursts.</p>
<p>"Odin brought us together," Loki told Thor, as if they weren't being shot at. A green laser exploded on the wall behind him. "It's almost poetic that his death should split us apart."</p>
<p>"What, and just forget all the years you guys had together?" Vanitas commented, looking between the adopted brothers. "When Odin wasn't making his favoritism obvious, you guys had some good times together."</p>
<p>The group came out from behind the corner, and Sora used Happy Gear to fire out the Shotlock Snakebite to send out snake-like projectiles into the soldiers in front of them, stunning them. Vanitas finished the three off with blasts from his shotgun, and the quartet walked further into the room. Thor and Loki watched their six, firing their blasters at soldiers that ran in from other doorways. Loki emptied his blaster and dropped it to the floor, walking down a green hallway to the metal door that had a panel next to it. Thor, Vanitas, and Sora covered Loki, Thor firing his laser gun, Sora casting Fira or Blizzard, and Vanitas firing his shotgun. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"We might as well be strangers now," Loki told Thor while Vanitas slid a couple of new shells into his shotgun to reload. Thor fired the blaster before dropping it and Loki pressed a couple of buttons, closing off the rest of the room from the small hallway they were in. "Two sons of the crown, set adrift."</p>
<p>Vanitas slipped his shotgun over his shoulder while Loki pressed the last button on the console, opening the metal door in front of them. But then he raised his hands in surrender as a soldier on the other side pointed its blaster at him, making him step back. The soldier walked in with its gun raised, but Thor hit it with his fist, making the gun point down as the soldier pulled the trigger. The blast made the soldier exclaim in surprise as it was launched up to the ceiling.</p>
<p>"Nice," Sora complimented as he and Loki watched the soldier fly up to the ceiling.</p>
<p>"I thought you didn't want to talk about it," Thor told Loki as he walked into the elevator.</p>
<p>The soldier crashed to the floor in front of them, plaster from the ceiling raining down on top of him.</p>
<p>"I would have just thrown him up," Vanitas commented as he and Sora walked in. "I've done it before."</p>
<p>"Here's the thing," Loki said, walking in after the trio.</p>
<p>They pressed a button on the elevator, and it started sliding up to the floor Loki was sure the hanger was gonna be.</p>
<p>"I'm probably better off here on Sakaar," Loki pointed out as the elevator kept sliding up.</p>
<p>"That's exactly what I was thinking," Thor agreed.</p>
<p>Loki frowned in confusion.</p>
<p>"Did you just agree with me?" he asked Thor.</p>
<p>"Come on, this place is perfect for you," Thor said. "It's savage, chaotic, lawless..."</p>
<p>"All the things you love rolled into one," Vanitas emphasized.</p>
<p>"Brother, you're gonna do great here," Thor assured Loki.</p>
<p>"Do you really think so little of me?" Loki asked, looking at the elevator doors in front of them.</p>
<p>"I do," Sora admitted.</p>
<p>Thor paused for a second before looking at his adopted brother.</p>
<p>"Loki, I thought the world of you," he said. "I thought we were gonna fight side by side forever. But... at the end of the day, you're you and I'm me." Loki was silent as Thor spoke, looking down in contemplation. "I don't know, maybe there's still good in you. But let's be honest, our paths diverged a long time ago. Thanos probably didn't help things."</p>
<p>Loki looked at Thor in surprise for a second, since he didn't remember them knowing about Thanos. He looked towards Sora and Vanitas for some kind of explanation.</p>
<p>"We're really good at finding things out," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>Loki nodded in understanding, then looked down with an expression that actually got Sora and Vanitas to feel sorry for him.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Loki agreed with Thor. "It's probably for the best that we never see each other again."</p>
<p>Even Sora could tell from the trickster's tone of voice that he didn't want that to happen.</p>
<p>"That's what you always wanted," Thor assured Loki, patting him on the back.</p>
<p>Loki nodded in agreement while curling his lips inwards. Sora and Vanitas could feel the tension as the elevator kept sliding up to the floor it was taking them, and the brothers stayed quiet.</p>
<p>"Hey, let's do 'Get Help'," Thor suggested.</p>
<p>"What?" Loki asked, breaking out of his sad trance.</p>
<p>"'Get Help'," Thor repeated.</p>
<p>"No," Loki denied, shaking his head.</p>
<p>"Come on, you love it," Thor said with a begging tone.</p>
<p>"I hate it," Loki denied.</p>
<p>"It's great," Thor said. "It works every time."</p>
<p>"It's humiliating," Loki said.</p>
<p>"Do you have a better plan?" Thor asked.</p>
<p>"Uh, what's 'Get Help'?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"You'll see in a second," Thor said.</p>
<p>"No," Loki said again.</p>
<p>"We're doing it," Thor said, looking at the elevator doors in front of them with a small smile.</p>
<p>"We are <em>not</em> doing 'Get Help'," Loki announced, an authoritative tone in his voice.</p>
<p>However, when the elevator doors dinged open, revealing the gigantic hanger in front of them, Loki went still and wrapped an arm around Thor's shoulders, and Thor carried his brother into the room.</p>
<p>"Get help, please!" Thor begged loudly, getting a nearby group of guards' attentions. "My brother, he's dying!"</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas followed the brothers out of the elevator and watched as the guards aimed blasters at them in suspicion.</p>
<p>"Get help!" Thor repeated before grabbing Loki by his shoulders. "Help him!"</p>
<p>Thor then chucked Loki towards the guards, spinning in the air and knocking all four of them to the ground, unconscious.</p>
<p>Thor smiled and chuckled, "Classic."</p>
<p>"Well, that's a pretty effective way to do it," Vanitas commented with a smile. He placed a hand on Sora's shoulder. "We will do that some time."</p>
<p>"Aw, man," Sora sighed out in sadness.</p>
<p>Loki groaned in pain as he stood up.</p>
<p>"Still hate it," he announced. "It's humiliating."</p>
<p>"Not for me, it's not," Thor remarked, walking next to his brother. He looked around. "Now which one's the ship she told us to get?"</p>
<p>"The Commodore," Loki said, gesturing to the red and golden ship with circular wings around it just a short distance away.</p>
<p>"Right," Thor said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, that looks like it'll get us to Asgard," Vanitas agreed.</p>
<p>They started walking forwards down the walkway to the ship, but Vanitas frowned as he sensed something change a bit.</p>
<p>"Though, I feel it won't make much of a difference," Loki announced.</p>
<p>Thor frowned and the three stopped to look at Loki next to them. Vanitas and Thor sighed out in realizaton.</p>
<p>"Oh, Loki," Thor commented, turning with his friends.</p>
<p>As the illusion of Loki disappeared next to them, they turned to see Loki on the other side of the platform, standing next to a console.</p>
<p>"I know I've betrayed you many times before, but this time it's truly nothing personal," Loki told Thor. Thor nodded with a small smile, Sora made an angry expression and Vanitas kept his face blank as Loki pressed a button on the console. "The reward for the capture of you three will set me up nicely."</p>
<p>Loki smiled at them as an alarm went off.</p>
<p>"Never one for sentiment, were you?" Thor asked.</p>
<p>"Easier to let it burn," Loki said, still smiling.</p>
<p>"I agree," Thor said, smiling as he lifted up the electrocution device.</p>
<p>A surprised expression appeared on Loki's face, and he looked on his shoulder blade that Thor had pat, seeing a circular Obediance Disk attached to him. He looked at Thor just in time for the Asgardian to press the button, shocking Loki enough to make him fall to the ground. Thor kept the electrocution going as they walked up to the downed trickster.</p>
<p>"Oh, that looks painful," Thor commented.</p>
<p>"What, you didn't think we thought this through?" Vanitas commented with a smile.</p>
<p>"Oh, dear brother, you're becoming predictable," Thor commented, crouching down to look at Loki a bit better, who was clenching his teeth as he felt the electricity surge through him. "I trust you, you betray me. Round and round in circles we go. See, Loki, life is about, it's about growth. It's about change. Just look at these two."</p>
<p>He gestured to Sora and Vanitas.</p>
<p>"Friend Sora has come such a long way with the Keyblade, becoming a great warrior capable of doing anything," Thor said. "And Friend V became a Master himself, but lost it all from an ass, growing determined to destroy the one responsible. But Friend Sora and their other friends brought him back from that trout, reminding him who he was. They are great examples of the beauty of change. But you seem to just wanna stay the same."</p>
<p>Loki winced a couple more times as the electricity continued surging through him.</p>
<p>"I guess what I'm trying to say is that, you'll always be the God of Mischief, but you could be more," Thor said. Loki looked at him uneasily as the electricity kept shocking him. Thor took out the device. "Anyway, I'll just put this over here for you."</p>
<p>He tossed the device over his shoulder, and it clattered on the ground near the elevators, making Loki go wide eyed as he kept wincing.</p>
<p>"Anyway, all got places to be, so good luck," Thor told Loki.</p>
<p>Thor stood up and walked down the platform to where the ship was. Sora and Vanitas followed him, leaving Loki, who was still wincing as the electricity held him to the ground.</p>
<p>"That was cold," Sora commented.</p>
<p>"Try just focusing on how he betrayed us," Vanitas told his cousin.</p>
<p>The trio made their way to the Commodore and climbed into seats in the cockpit. They powered up the ship, igniting the engines and making the ship rise up a few feet into the air through the landing gear extending up.</p>
<p>"These controls are a bit different than the Gummi ship," Sora said, a slight bit of nervousness in his voice.</p>
<p>"We can figure this out," Thor said, assuring both Sora and himself. "It's just another spaceship."</p>
<p>Thor slid his fingers up a screen, making light appear where his fingers touched. This caused blue fire to burst out of the ship thrusters and start flying them forwards as the landing gear finished retracting into the ship.</p>
<p>"Whoa!" Vanitas exclaimed in surprise from his seat as they quickly flew down the runway in front of them.</p>
<p>Working together, the trio piloted the ship out of the runway and out into Sakaar. They maneuvered the ship around the buildings as they piloted it through the city.</p>
<p>"<em>Loyal Sakaarians, Lord of Thunder and Bladekey wielders has stolen my ship and my favorite champion</em>," they heard the Grandmaster announce over the speakers. "<em>Sakaarians, take to the skies. Bring them down. Do not let them leave this planet.</em>"</p>
<p>"I never thought I'd say this," Vanitas started. "But shut the fuck up, Jeff Goldblum!"</p>
<p>"You know he can't..." Thor started.</p>
<p>"I know he can't hear me!" Vanitas exclaimed as a ship flew from behind a tower.</p>
<p>The ship started firing at them, but luckily they had a shield for their own ship that absorbed the attacks. Valkyrie's ship then came out from behind another tower and blasted that one to pieces. Bruce, Donald, and Goofy were in the cockpit with her.</p>
<p>"Good shot!" Bruce complimented.</p>
<p>"Thanks," Valkyrie said as she flew the ship forwards, making some of the gears convert.</p>
<p>"This is a much rougher trip than anything we did in the Gummi ship!" Goofy commented as they flew after the Commodore.</p>
<p>Valkyrie hit a button on the head rest of her seat, and a radio turned on that connected to the Commodore.</p>
<p>"Open the doors," she instructed.</p>
<p>"Okay," Thor said as he pressed a button.</p>
<p>The side doors opened in the central part of the Commodore, and the windshield for Valkyrie's ship slid open as she flew her ship right underneath the Commodore.</p>
<p>"I hope you're tougher than you look," Valkyrie yelled to the three over the winds.</p>
<p>"We are," Donald yelled back.</p>
<p>"I've gotten hit in the head so many times that I've developed a slight immunity to it," Goofy yelled back.</p>
<p>"Wait, why?" Bruce asked.</p>
<p>Valkyrie answered by showing him why. She pressed a button, and the boys' seats launched them upwards, making them yell out in surprise, Goofy in his infamous way, as they roughly landed inside the ship, Bruce almost falling out of the other open doorway. Vanitas got out of his seat and helped his friends stand up as best they could from the surging ship. Vanitas laughed as he hugged Donald and Goofy.</p>
<p>"Good to see you guys!" he laughed.</p>
<p>"You, too!" Donald agreed. "It got stuffy in that cell!"</p>
<p>"Valkyrie, where's Stitch?" Sora asked over the radio.</p>
<p>But before she could answer, explosions started bursting in front of the Commodore, with laser blasts surging past them. A third ship, one being piloted by a very happy Topaz, was following them, firing at the two ships.</p>
<p>"Shouldn't we be shooting back or something?" Bruce asked as Vanitas helped him stand up through the shaking ship.</p>
<p>"Yes, we should," Thor said as he and Sora reached for some buttons. "Where are the guns on this ship?"</p>
<p>"<em>There aren't any</em>," Valkyrie admitted over the radio. "<em>It's a leisure vessel</em>."</p>
<p>"What?" Bruce asked.</p>
<p>"<em>Grandmaster uses it for his good times, orgies and stuff</em>," Valkyrie said, making Thor and Vanitas wince.</p>
<p>"Did she just say the Grandmaster uses it for orgies?" Bruce asked, holding on to the back of Thor's chair.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Thor said, wincing as Bruce sat down in the seat behind him. "Don't touch anything."</p>
<p>"What's an orgy?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"It's when a group of people have sex together," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"Ew!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed simultaneously, making disgusted faces.</p>
<p>They kept piloting the two ships, the Commodore and Valkyrie's ship, weaving around the laser blasts from Topaz's attacking ship. The Commodore flew to the side a bit, and Topaz directed all of her fire at Valkyrie's ship, hitting one of the thrusters and making it explode. She kept firing at the ship as Thor and Sora piloted the Commodore behind Topaz's ship.</p>
<p>Knowing to cut her losses, Valkyrie grabbed Dragonfang and climbed out of the still open window, on top of her ship.</p>
<p>"No!" Bruce said, watching Valkyrie's ship catch more and more fire. "No!"</p>
<p>Topaz kept firing, making Valkyrie's ship fall down more until it blew in a large explosion, and she laughed in victory.</p>
<p>"No!" Sora, Bruce, Thor, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed.</p>
<p>Luckily, a figure jumped from the burning carcass of Valkyrie's ship, and the woman herself grabbed onto the windshield of the Commodore, exclaiming in surprise. However, their very brief moment of reprieve vanished when more lasers flew past their ship. Looking over their shoulders, Thor, Vanitas, and Sora saw that there were five more enemy ships following them, shooting lasers at them.</p>
<p>"Get inside!" Thor told Valkyrie.</p>
<p>"In a minute!" Valkyrie yelled back.</p>
<p>She ran along the top of the ship and leaped off, landing on one with Dragonfang in hand. Valkyrie stabbed her sword along the top as she slid on the ship then leaped off as fire burst out of the slash, making the ship fall towards the ground. She lunged towards another ship.</p>
<p>"We should probably go and help her," Thor said with a surprisingly even voice.</p>
<p>"I'm in," Vanitas said, grabbing his machete.</p>
<p>"Here, take the wheel," Thor told Bruce as he stood up.</p>
<p>"No," Bruce said. "I don't know how to fly one of these."</p>
<p>"You're a scientist," Thor said, directing Bruce into the seat. "Use one of your PhDs."</p>
<p>"None of them are for flying alien spaceships!" Bruce exclaimed.</p>
<p>"Sora, Donald, Goofy, you've got experience with the Gummi ship," Vanitas said as he and Thor moved down the ship to the open doorways. "Keep Bruce and the ship in once piece!"</p>
<p>"V, if you don't get blown to bits out there, I'm gonna kill you!" Donald exclaimed.</p>
<p>"I'll help!" Sora exclaimed, keeping a hold of his controls with wide eyes.</p>
<p>"I expect nothing less!" Vanitas retaliated.</p>
<p>He and Thor jumped out of the ship and landed on one below them, and Thor ripped a piece of it off with his bare hand, knocking it into the thruster next to them. Vanitas pointed his hands at two space ships, then moved his hands next to each other quickly, using his telekinesis to make the ships crash into each other and explode in a large blast.</p>
<p>Figuring it'd be good to try to direct the spaceships away, Bruce and Sora made the Commodore turn to the left. Some ships followed them while others kept flying forwards.</p>
<p>The team made short work of the ships. Valkyrie was on top of a purple and manually turned the turret on top with her bare hands to aim at another ship so when it fired, it would hit that other ship instead. Thor was on another purple one and smashed the roof with his fists, causing lots of fire to burst out after he hit it. Vanitas jumped onto a green tinted ship and stabbed his surprisingly sharp machete into one of the back thrusters before flying off with his boots as the spaceship exploded behind him.</p>
<p>Bruce and Sora kept maneuvering the Commodore, getting closer to the Devil's Anus, but dodging gunfire from Topaz, who was following them again.</p>
<p>"Okay, come on," Bruce said, desperately reaching for buttons on the console. "There's gotta be a gun on this thing."</p>
<p>"That's gotta be a gun," Goofy suggested, gesturing to the blue button with a design that looked like an explosion on it.</p>
<p>Bruce hit the button, but then electric music started playing as lights of different colors shined on the walls behind them, and an image of the Grandmaster playing the keyboard appeared over the console, singing, "<em>It's my birthday.</em>"</p>
<p>"What the fuck?" Donald asked with a frown.</p>
<p>"For once, I'm not gonna reprimand you for swearing," Sora commented, looking at the image in front of them with a similar frown.</p>
<p>"You never reprimand V for swearing," Bruce pointed out.</p>
<p>"Yeah, but he's V," Sora said. "We're used to him swearing."</p>
<p>While Bruce made a face that meant, "True," the group quickly noticed fireworks being fired out of parts of the Commodore on the outside, which was enough to confuse Topaz into blindness. Using that to their advantage, Bruce kept flying towards a large chunk of another spaceship before moving to the side at the last second, tricking Topaz into flying right into it, blowing up her ship and sending the remains into the water just below.</p>
<p>"Yeah!" Bruce exclaimed, pumping his fist in victory.</p>
<p>"Good job, guys!" Goofy complimented.</p>
<p>"Now we gotta get to the Devil's Anus," Sora announced, looking at the biggest wormhole storm in front of them.</p>
<p>"Ew," Donald commented, looking at the wormhole in disgust.</p>
<p>Outside, Thor landed on a green ship and ripped the windshield off, throwing the pilot off of the spaceship. Valkyrie and Vanitas landed with him, and the former grabbed the controls, piloting it closer to the Commodore. Thor looked at her, and she smiled widely back as the ship got closer to the Commodore. Once they got close enough, the trio leaped up on either side of the Commodore and landed on their feet inside the ship, with Thor and Valkyrie landing right in front of each other in each others' personal space as the doors slid shut behind them.</p>
<p>'<em>Is this supposed to be a hint towards a new romance for Thor? </em>' Vanitas thought. '<em>Because this doesn't really go anywhere.</em>'</p>
<p>"Guys, we're coming in on the Devil's Anus," Bruce announced from the pilot's seat.</p>
<p>"Horrible name for a thing," Donald commented as Thor, Valkyrie, and Vanitas walked up.</p>
<p>"It's getting hairy, man!" Bruce commented.</p>
<p>"Did you do that on purpose?" Vanitas smirked. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"I think maybe I should take over from here," Valkyrie said as they got closer to the storm that was the wormhole.</p>
<p>"Yeah?" Bruce asked. "No, I think Sora and I got it."</p>
<p>"It wasn't a question," Valkyrie said, her and Thor grabbing Bruce by the shoulders and making him stand up.</p>
<p>"You're a goddess," Bruce complimented as Valkyrie sat down in the pilot's seat. "You're amazing. She's so fierce."</p>
<p>"Can someone take over for me, too?" Sora asked, a little worry in his voice. "This whole time, I've been worried I'm gonna slip up and blow us all up."</p>
<p>"Yeah, sure," Donald said.</p>
<p>Sora and Donald switched places, with Sora standing up with the others as Donald sat down in the copilot chair.</p>
<p>"You guys were incredible!" Bruce gushed, looking at Thor and Vanitas. "The way you were jumping from ship to ship."</p>
<p>"That was freaking awesome!" Sora laughed with his friends. "You guys're amazing!"</p>
<p>"<em>You</em> guys were amazing!" Thor countered with his own wide smile. "The way you were flying this thing! 'Aah, we've got no guns!' We did it!"</p>
<p>"I did!" Bruce gushed.</p>
<p>"Where'd you learn to fly like that?" Thor asked.</p>
<p>"You did it so well you'd probably be able to do a Gummi ship no problem," Goofy complimented Bruce.</p>
<p>"I don't know!" Bruce said. "It was like an instinct."</p>
<p>"Trust those instincts more," Thor told Bruce. "They're working."</p>
<p>"I should," Bruce agreed, still smiling widely.</p>
<p>"Especially trust them if they lead to more cool shit like that!" Vanitas exclaimed with a smile, gesturing to the side of the ship.</p>
<p>"Shoot," Valkyrie said, looking to the side before looking out the windshield again. "You might wanna buckle up."</p>
<p>"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Bruce asked, pulling Thor in close.</p>
<p>"Yeah, yeah," Thor said, stepping next to Bruce with Sora, Vanitas, and Goofy.</p>
<p>"Remember when I said it takes something really big to turn be back into the other guy?" Bruce asked as the winds continued to surge behind them.</p>
<p>"Yeah, yeah," Thor whispered back.</p>
<p>"You were pretty clear that we had to avoid that something big," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"Do you think a wormhole would do it?" Bruce asked.</p>
<p>"I don't know," Thor admitted with a small stutter. "That was your theory."</p>
<p>"Since you're the science guy, we tend to trust your theories," Sora pointed out.</p>
<p>"You usually end up being right," Goofy added.</p>
<p>"Yeah, that's what I'm worried about," Bruce admitted. "A theory's just a theory. It's a-a-a guess."</p>
<p>"A very educated guess," Thor pointed out, looking at the now nervous Bruce with a serious expression.</p>
<p>"It's still just a guess," Bruce reminded him, nervousness continuing to grow. "The pendulum effect. What if I swing back the other way and I get stuck as the other guy forever?"</p>
<p>"What?" Thor asked, shocked. "Why are you telling us this now?"</p>
<p>"Because we're about to go through a freaking wormhole, man, called Satan's Anus," Bruce remarked, and Thor desperately tried to keep the scientist calm.</p>
<p>"You couldn't have brought this up before?" Vanitas asked as Sora and Goofy held each other, looking at Bruce in wide eyed fear.</p>
<p>"If the other guy appears while we're in flight, then things might not end well," Sora said.</p>
<p>"For any of us," Goofy agreed.</p>
<p>But then all five of them exclaimed as they were thrown to the side as the Commodore was piloted right into the wormhole, traversing around the large pieces of debris all around them.</p>
<p>"Told you to buckle up," Valkyrie said with a smile.</p>
<p>The group managed to stand back up, with Thor and Vanitas steadying Bruce.</p>
<p>"Am I okay?" Bruce asked, a bit of green on his left eyebrow. "Am I all right?" </p>
<p>"Yeah, yeah," Vanitas assured Bruce, Thor wiping at the green.</p>
<p>"Really?" Bruce asked, looking down. "Okay." He looked up and grabbed Thor by his armor. "Strap me in."</p>
<p>"We got you, buddy," Sora assured Bruce as Thor led the scientist to the seat behind the copilot seat, Donald eyeing Bruce nervously.</p>
<p>Thor and Vanitas sat Bruce down into the seat and started moving the harnesses over him.</p>
<p>"No matter what I do or say, don't unstrap me," Bruce told them.</p>
<p>"Taken out of context, this looks and sounds really weird," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"That just about sums up our lives," Sora commented as he and Goofy started preparing themselves for the trip ahead of them. Vanitas paused as he realized something.</p>
<p>"Wait, where's Stitch?" he asked Valkyrie.</p>
<p>"I couldn't reach him," Valkyrie said with a sorry expression. "I'm sorry."</p>
<p>"We have to go back for him!" Vanitas announced, Sora and Goofy making faces that made it clear they agreed. "We can't leave him back there."</p>
<p>"Relax," Thor assured him. "If my intuition is right, then you'll be seeing him again pretty soon."</p>
<p>"I hope you're right," Vanitas sighed out, praying that the blue furred alien was safe.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Back in the Grandmaster's hanger, Korg led revolution into the large room, directing their attentions to the gigantic blue ship that could carry hundreds.</p>
<p>"There she is," he announced. "Our ticket out of here."</p>
<p>He looked down and saw the electrocution device at his feet.</p>
<p>"Hey, what's this?" Korg asked, kneeling down and picking up the device.</p>
<p>He stood straight up and pressed the button, stopping the electricity from hurting Loki. Loki groaned in relief as he sat up, looking at Korg and his rebellion gratefully.</p>
<p>"Thank you," he said, breathlessly.</p>
<p>"Hey, man," Korg greeted as Loki slowly stood up. "We're about to jump on that ginormous spaceship. You wanna come?"</p>
<p>"You do seem like..." Loki panted out. "...you're in desperate need of leadership."</p>
<p>"Why, thank you," Korg said with a smile.</p>
<p>"First, there's something I have to do," Loki said.</p>
<p>Not too far away, the Grandmaster was with some of his maidens, holding onto Stitch's leash while the little blue alien whined his displeasure on all sixes. They were moving towards one of his escape pods, but their attentions were drawn to the metal door as it slid open and Loki walked in.</p>
<p>"Ah, Loki," the Grandmaster greeted with a smile. "Fancy escaping with us?"</p>
<p>"No," Loki bluntly said, walking up to the Grandmaster with an angry expression. "I'm keeping a promise."</p>
<p>The Grandmaster exclaimed confusion as Loki grabbed him by his robe.</p>
<p>"What are you..." he started.</p>
<p>But then Loki punched him right in the face, making the Grandmaster fall to the ground and release his hold on Stitch. Loki crouched down next to the blue furred alien and pressed the button on the device, making the Obedience Disk and the collar pop off. Stitch exclaimed happiness as he stood up on his hind legs and looked up at Loki.</p>
<p>"You wanna come with me and my new allies to help your friends fight an evil witch and a fairy that once tried to kill me?" Loki asked him with a smile.</p>
<p>"Uh-huh!" Stitch said, nodding his head with a big smile.</p>
<p>Stitch muttered his excitement as he climbed onto Loki's shoulders. The trickster stood up at full height and walked out of the room with Stitch on his shoulders. The two prepared themselves for the flight that they were about to have... <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 Since it's been a couple of weeks since I added a chapter to the Kingdom Hearts story, it's been a little while since I saw what the progression of magic was. I didn't remember if Blizzard had upgraded to Blizzara yet, so I just guessed</p>
<p>*2 It feels like it was on purpose. He said they were closing in on the Anus, and that it was getting hairy</p>
<p>*3 And that's what I call character development</p>
<p>There is only about 25 more minutes left in this movie, but I can't promise anything for when the next couple of chapters are coming. It might be tomorrow, or it might take another couple of days. Time will tell</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Ready for War</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group reaches Asgard and start their assault against Hela and Maleficent...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The group in the Commodore managed to strap themselves down and held on desperately as they started traversing through the red storms of the wormhole, debris flying all around them and all of it coming pretty close to hitting them. Thor and Donald had changed spots, with the Asgardian in the copilot seat and Donald strapped in one of the back seats, clutching Goofy while exclaiming in fear.</p><p>"Here we go," Valkyrie eagerly said. She piloted through more of the storm, but her eagerness disappeared when they crashed into a couple of pieces of debris flying through the worm hole. "Shit."</p><p>"This is a lot rougher than anything else we've ever done," Sora said with a bit of fear.</p><p>They kept flying through the worm hole, with lots of explosions going off around them as they kept flying. Bruce, Thor, Sora, Donald, and Goofy strained and yelled out as they flew through a particularly strong part of the worm hole, which did a number on them.</p><p>It lasted for longer than any of them would have preferred. After what felt like hours (which was in fact, hours), the flight mellowed out a bit. It was still rough and rocky, but it wasn't as bad as it was before.</p><p>"It's still gonna take a while until we can get to Asgard," Valkyrie told them. If you want, you can go in the back and get some rest."</p><p>"We're gonna need it," Vanitas commented, taking off his seat belt.</p><p>He, Thor, and Sora got out of their seats and went into the back room, where they found a circular table with four chairs around it and a shelf on the right side with multiple bottles of alcohol. They sat down and stayed there in comfortable silence for a bit before Thor got curious and pressed buttons on the central console, which made a holographic image of the Grandmaster dancing appear.</p><p>"This guy is the biggest egomaniac," Vanitas commented.</p><p>They changed the image to a couple of other things, including the man making weird expressions, lifting his hands up to his mouth, and two hands wearing what looked like blue socks rubbing his face. The faces the Grandmaster was making in the image was making Sora and Vanitas uncomfortable. Their attentions were drawn to the back hallway as Bruce and Goofy walked out, each one of them carrying bowls of food.</p><p>"Hey, we found some food," Bruce said, gesturing to the bowls in their hands. "It looks really good."</p><p>"Reminds me of ramen," Goofy commented, placing two bowls on the table.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas took the bowls Goofy offered them while started eating with the chopsticks from his own bowl. Bruce placed one of his bowls in front of Thor as he sat down. The door slid shut behind them, surprising them since it also bore the image of the Grandmaster.</p><p>"Uh, good, good," Thor said, reaching for the console. "Just..."</p><p>He pressed one or two buttons, but it had no effect on the image that was still playing, the one of the Grandmaster moaning as fake tentacles rubbed his face. Bruce, Goofy, and Vanitas ate the noodle like food with their chopsticks, but everyone still frowned at the images in front of them. Thor pressed a button, but it only changed to another angle of the image. Pressing another button, he finally got the images to disappear.</p><p>"Trying to focus," Thor said, still a little surprised.</p><p>"Well, you know what my dad said to me just before he died?" Bruce asked through a mouthful of noodles.</p><p>"No," Thor said with a shake of the head.</p><p>"Me, neither, because I wasn't there," Bruce said. "I was too busy obsessing on my gamma ray experiments. I missed my own father's death, because I was focusing on my destiny."</p><p>"But I didn't miss my father's death," Thor pointed out as Bruce swallowed and then stuffed more noodles in his mouth. "Because he died and faded away right in front of me. And then my sister, whom I didn't even know existed, because she was kept a secret from he my whole life, destroyed the only thing that gave me a chance at stopping her."</p><p>"I'm really sorry," Bruce said as one or two noodles fell from his mouth and back into the bowl. "That was like, terribly embarrassing. It just had nothing to do with what you're going through."</p><p>"No, it did not," Vanitas agreed with a shake of the head before stuffing some noodles in his own mouth.</p><p>"And my family..." Thor said, looking down. "It's like we're cursed to fight amongst ourselves while everyone else suffers for it." Bruce, Vanitas, Sora, and Goofy shook their heads at Thor's claim. "Now Asgard's in ruins, and all this... This sister, Hela, I don't even know if I can beat her."</p><p>"You're Thor," Bruce commented. "You can kill your sister."</p><p>"No, I'm Thor without his hammer," Thor countered.</p><p>"You're not the God of Hammers," Bruce commented, placing his chopsticks into his bowl.</p><p>"Yeah, that's Hephaestus, and he's not even here right now," Vanitas added.</p><p>"You're Dumbo," Bruce added.</p><p>"Doesn't sound like a compliment," Thor commented.</p><p>"It's totally a compliment," Bruce assured Thor, pointing one of his chopsticks at Thor. "Dumbo! Dumbo!"</p><p>"Sounds like you're calling me Dumbo, over and over again," Thor commented with a small, fake smile.</p><p>"Bruce, maybe add context," Vanitas suggested.</p><p>"Dumbo!" Bruce exclaimed, moving one hand next to his ear with a smile.</p><p>"Say it once more, and I'll tear your head off," Thor said calmly.</p><p>"The elephant who thinks he can fly because he has a magical feather," Bruce explained, grabbing something that looked like a noodle from the bowl but had some kind of weird bug on the end that he couldn't see. "And then he loses the feather one day, and he realizes that it didn't have anything to with him flying at all."</p><p>"Hey, we met him once," Sora said with a smile as Bruce stuffed the noodle like part into his mouth. "He was fun to... have!"</p><p>He and the others had just noticed the weird looking bug that was now dangling out of Bruce's mouth.</p><p>"It was what was inside of him, you know?" Bruce emphasized to Thor, while the Asgardian and Vanitas tried gesturing to the bug. "It didn't have anything to do with his fricking feather, man."</p><p>"Bruce," Sora said, eyes wide.</p><p>Bruce followed Sora's gaze and looked down, and his eyes widened at the bug dangling form his mouth. He gagged with his mouth closed and grabbed the bug, throwing it onto the table.</p><p>"Where did that come from?" Bruce asked, jumping as he looked from left to right, making sure there weren't any more of that bug. He sat down straight and rubbed his face with one hand and hair with the other. "Was that on me the whole time?"</p><p>"Not exactly," Vanitas commented, pushing aside his bowl of noodles.</p><p>"I'm suddenly not hungry anymore," Sora added as he and Goofy also pushed away their bowls.</p><p>"Oh, gross!" Bruce exclaimed, all but throwing his bowl onto the table to get it away from him.</p><p>The doors slid open, and Thor and Sora looked up to see Valkyrie walk in.</p><p>"We're almost there," she said.</p><p>She then looked down to see the bug, rammed her fist into it, and picked it up by the tail.</p><p>"Yeah?" Valkyrie asked a surprised looking Bruce.</p><p>"Yeah, get rid of it," Bruce said.</p><p>Valkyrie then lifted it up and lowered the bug into her mouth, chewing it as if it was a normal piece of food. Thor and Sora winced slightly as Valkyrie walked back towards the cockpit. Vanitas, Goofy, and Thor stood up and started walking back to the cockpit, mentally preparing themselves for what they were gonna face when they got to Asgard.</p>
<hr/><p>Skurge and Pete stood on the middle part of a stairway in the city looking over Asgardians standing at the bottom of the steps, skeleton soldiers standing by their sides to corral the frightened citizens that had gathered. Hela and Maleficent were watching the two at the top of the stairs with Fenris wolf kneeling down behind them, ready for some kind of attack. Hela had her helmet on in preparation, and Maleficent was smirking at the citizens, as if they were beneath her.</p><p>"Asgardians..." Skurge called out. "Some misguided soul has stolen the Bifrost sword."</p><p>"Tell us where it is, or there will be serious consequences," Pete announced before the two looked towards their mistresses.</p><p>"Bad ones," Skurge added, looking back at the still frightened people at the bottom of the stairs.</p><p>Everyone was silent, but didn't even bother trying to hide their terrified expressions.</p><p>"Well?" Skurge asked.</p><p>"Come on, people!" Pete complained. "It's just some blade! It can't be that important to you people!"</p><p>The people were still silent, so Hela took a few steps down the staircase, looking among. She pointed at a random blonde lady.</p><p>"You," Hela announced.</p><p>People screamed as they were pushed aside by the skeleton warriors as they pulled the woman forwards and threw her to the ground at the bottom of the stairs. Pete and Skurge sighed out as they figured out what Hela was implying. Especially when Hela looked at Skurge expectantly, since he was the one holding the battle axe.</p><p>"Pete, hold her down," Maleficent instructed. "It's much harder to do it when the victim is struggling."</p><p>Pete gulped and reluctantly walked with Skurge down the steps to the blonde woman, who was sobbing uncontrollably. Closing his eyes, Pete kneeled down and held the woman by her shoulders, keeping her down. Skurge sighed out as he reluctantly gripped his axe in both hands. He looked up at Hela.</p><p>"Well?" Hela asked. "Executioner?"</p><p>Skurge sighed out as he looked down and lifted his axe up with both hands, making everyone in the crowd gasp.</p><p>"Wait!" a man called out, running forwards. "Wait!"</p><p>He ran out of the crowd and stood in front of everyone with a reluctant expression.</p><p>"I know where the sword is," he announced.</p><p>Hela raised an inquisitive eyebrow while Maleficent smirked in victory.</p>
<hr/><p>The group on the Commodore had taken their seats back in the cockpit and strapped themselves back down, going through the last hurdle of the wormhole. This ended up causing so large a strain that everyone was knocked unconscious as they exited the worm hole, with red warning lights glowing in the part that Sora, Donald, and Goofy were sitting in. Everyone slowly rose into consciousness as bright lights appeared in front of them, since the ship was using autopilot to keep flying forwards. The Commodore flew up in front of Asgard before turning so they were now facing the city.</p><p>Thor and Valkyrie grabbed the controls and started piloting the ship over the city, while the others took off their safety belts and started preparing.</p><p>"I never thought I'd be back here," Valkyrie admitted.</p><p>Bruce stood up between the two chairs as they got closer to the palace, seeing the multiple spouts of black smoke rising up into the air.</p><p>"I thought it'd be a lot nicer," Bruce admitted. "I mean, not that it's not nice. It's just, it's on fire."</p><p>"Remember to factor in the two crazy bitches causing havoc when you look at the city," Vanitas reminded Bruce.</p><p>"Not gonna lie, this was about what I expected when you mentioned Maleficent was helping her tear the place apart," Sora admitted.</p><p>"We all saw what she did to Radiant Garden," Donald added, nodding in agreement.</p><p>"Here, up in the mountains," Valkyrie announced, gesturing to the small hologram showing the mountains with red within. "Heat signatures."</p><p>"Heimdall did say he was giving refuge to the people in a stronghold built by your ancestors," Sora remembered.</p><p>"But Hela and Maleficent are coming for them," Valkyrie pointed out, pointing to the green dots on the hologram going up the mountain.</p><p>"She's after the Bifrost sword," Vanitas said. "With that thing, she can use the rainbow bridge to travel to any realm and conquer it with ease."</p><p>"Okay, drop me off at the palace and I'll draw her away," Thor said.</p><p>"And get yourself killed?" Valkyrie asked with wide eyes.</p><p>"The people trapped down there are all that matters," Thor told her. "While I'm dealing with Hela and Maleficent..."</p><p>"Sora and I are helping you," Vanitas said.</p><p>"Maleficent is one of our oldest enemies," Sora said. "V and I help you while Donald and Goofy work with Bruce and Valkyrie help the people."</p><p>"I can't ask you to do that," Thor said.</p><p>"We weren't asking," Vanitas told the Asgardian.</p><p>Thor smirked.</p><p>"All right," he relented. "While we're dealing with Hela and Maleficent, the rest of you will need to help get everyone off of Asgard."</p><p>"Pete'll be helping Maleficent," Vanitas told Donald and Goofy. "You'll have to be ready to fight him."</p><p>"We can take 'em!" Goofy announced with a heroic expression.</p><p>"Let me at that prick!" Donald agreed, summoning his staff.</p><p>"Back up a bit," Thor said. "How the hell are we supposed to evacuate an entire city?"</p><p>"We have a man on the ground," Thor told them.</p><p>"A badass one that's finally getting his dues," Vanitas smirked.</p>
<hr/><p>At that very moment, Heimdall inched towards the large doors that hid the bunker while everyone else chatted amongst each other quietly. He eyed the doors with a contemplative expression as he realized what was happening.</p><p>"Asgard," Heimdall announced, getting all conversations to die down. "She's here."</p><p>Just moments later, Hela appeared on the other side of the gigantic doors with her posse, smirking in victory.</p>
<hr/><p>Stopping on a balcony at the palace, Thor grabbed a large laser gun that was capable of rapid fire from the armory and placed it down on the Commadore's floor.</p><p>"Here," he said. "Now the ship has a gun."</p><p>"I'll take it from here," Valkyrie informed him, kneeling down next to the gun.</p><p>"Let's get going!" Donald announced, moving to the pilots' seat.</p><p>"Wait just a moment," Thor said, lifting up a folded garment. "I found, uh, this in the armory."</p><p>He placed it down right next to Valkyrie, who eyed her old outfit with an amazed expression.</p><p>"Good luck," Thor said as he, Sora, and Vanitas started moving towards the palace.</p><p>"You're gonna need it," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"So are you!" Goofy rebutted, standing right next to Valkyrie.</p><p>"We're all gonna need a boatload of luck," Sora commented.</p><p>"Your Majesty..." Valkyrie called out, standing up and getting Thor to look back at her, all while Donald and Bruce had the ship start flying up. "...don't die."</p><p>"We'll try not to," Vanitas said with a small chuckle.</p><p>"You know what I mean," Valkyrie told the smirking Thor.</p><p>Bruce and Donald piloted the ship away from the palace, leaving the trio on the balcony alone. Thor led the way inside and into the throne room, with the room's namesake being presented pretty dominantly just across from them.</p><p>"That is an awesome throne!" Sora gushed in amazement.</p><p>"I know," Vanitas laughed. "You have no idea how much I wanted to take a selphie on that thing the last time I was... here."</p><p>He trailed off as he and his friends looked at the floor, seeing the ceramic ceiling paintings in pieces on the ground. The only painting they could actually make out was one of Thor's face, but it had a crack over the right eye.</p><p>'<em>Surprisingly good foreshadowing,</em>' Vanitas thought. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>Curious, the trio looked from the broken ceiling paintings on the ground to the domed ceiling above them. Their eyes went wide at the paintings of the past, of Odin and Hela ravaging through forces to conquer the Nine Realms, with Hela wielding Mjölnir or riding on Fenris wolf, and Odin standing on the Bifrost bridge with Hela's helmet showing the many barbs from the back.</p><p>"I see why they hid this stuff," Sora commented with wide eyes in surprise.</p>
<hr/><p>Meanwhile, Hela was at the stronghold, making large blades appear and hit the rock wall in front of them, wearing down the mountainside holding the doors together. Skurge and Pete jumped in surprise as the rocks tumbled from the mountainside, and the doors fell down towards them, forming a small bridge for them to get to the stronghold. The four walked forwards across the doors, and Hela and Maleficent frowned as they found the gigantic stronghold empty, but at the end of the gigantic hallway was an open doorway.</p><p>"They're escaping," Maleficent remarked.</p><p>"Not gonna lie, I'm a little relieved for them," Pete muttered to Skurge, who had his M16s hanging by their straps over his shoulders again</p><p>They were right. Heimdall was, at the moment, leading the Asgardians in a convoy down the mountain towards the Bifrost, knowing it was their last chance of escape.</p><p>"We must keep moving!" he announced. "Go to the Bifrost!"</p>
<hr/><p>Back on the Commodore, Valkyrie dressed in her white and golden armor that included a blue cape in quick succession, slipping Dragonfang into the sheath on her hip. Goofy then helped her attach the large machine gun to the center of the ship, preparing it to fire. Bruce and Donald sat in the pilots' seats and looked over their shoulders to their allies, who smiled back as they pointed the gun outside the open doors.</p><p>"We're ready for anything!" Goofy announced.</p><p>"Let's do this," Donald announced, looking back out the windshield with Bruce.</p>
<hr/><p>Back in the throne room, after letting Sora and Vanitas take pictures in the throne, Thor grabbed a staff and sat down in the seat in an authoritative manner, which the cousins had to admit looked much more impressive than the pictures they had taken. Thor hit the bottom of the staff to the ground a couple of times, knowing that the sound would reverberate enough for their enemies to hear.</p><p>And it worked. While Vanitas held his machete and Beretta and Sora held his Keyblade in preparation, the sight of two people entering the throne room from far ahead of them faintly appeared. Hela and Maleficent soon came into view, with Hela retracting her helmet back so that her black hair was flowing down behind her back. Thor smirked as the villainesses stepped close enough.</p><p>"Sister," Thor greeted Hela.</p><p>"Bitch," Vanitas greeted Maleficent.</p><p>"Sora and Vanitas," Maleficent greeted with disdain. "This is unexpected."</p><p>"You're still alive," Hela greeted Thor.</p><p>"I love what you've done with the place," Thor said, looking up. He smiled at his sister. "Redecorating, I see."</p><p>"It seems our father's solution to every problem was to cover it up," Hela commented.</p><p>"Accurate claim," Vanitas admitted. "I met the guy. He was a bit of a douche."</p><p>"The other one was to cast it out," Thor commented, making it clear he was talking about Hela. "He told you you were worthy. He said the same thing to me."</p><p>"You see?" Hela asked. "You never knew him. Not at his best. Odin and I drowned entire civilizations in blood and tears. Where do you think all this gold came from? And then, one day, he decided to become a benevolent king. To foster peace, to protect life..." She gained a disgusted expression as she said the last bit. "...to have you."</p><p>"How sickening," Maleficent commented.</p><p>"I see why you're here," Sora commented, looking at Maleficent. "It's a beautiful city that's currently being destroyed by a woman obsessed with power. I'm honestly surprised it took the two of you so long to team up."</p><p>Hela and Maleficent smirked at each other before frowning back at the trio.</p><p>"I understand why you're angry," Thor told Hela. "And you are my sister, and technically have a claim to the throne. And believe me, I would love for someone else to rule. But it can't be you. You're just..." He sighed out. "The worst."</p><p>"You're such a bitch," Vanitas added.</p><p>Hela smirked before moving her hands up onto her head.</p><p>"Okay, get up," she told Thor as her helmet appeared. "You're in my seat."</p><p>Thor stood up and held his staff as he walked down the stairs to join his friends. Sora stood in his battle stance while Vanitas twirled his machete in preparation. Hela looked at Maleficent with a smirk.</p><p>"Sister, I think it is time for you to bring back a form you have not used in a very long time," she told Maleficent.</p><p>"I think you're right," Maleficent agreed as green light covered her. She lifted up her staff. "See for yourself, all the powers of hell!"</p><p>Green flames flew up and around Maleficent and flew up high into the air, hiding Maleficent and Hela from view. Remembering what was coming, Sora and Vanitas kept the ready expressions on their faces while Thor frowned in confusion. That confusion became wide eyed surprise when the fire died down, revealing a gigantic black dragon standing where Maleficent stood next to his sister. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>"Of course she can turn into a dragon," Thor commented before looking at Hela. "You know, Father once told me... that a wise king never seeks out war."</p><p>"But must always be ready for it," Hela finished with a venomous tone in her voice.</p><p>"Well, we're ready, bitch," Vanitas announced.</p><p>A sword appeared in Hela's hand and she charged forwards with the dragon Maleficent, at the same time Sora, Thor, and Vanitas charged forwards with their weapons raised. Hela lunged at Thor with her sword raised as Thor raised his staff, while Sora and Vanitas lunged at the roaring dragon, ready for one hell of a fight.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I had that pointed out to me from an Instagram fact post. The crack there is over the eye that he loses from the upcoming battle with Hela</p><p>*2 I already had them fight Maleficent in her normal form back in the Guardians of the Galaxy story, so I figured it was time to go back to the dragon for a bit</p><p>*Bugs Bunny Voice* Gee, ain't I a stinker for leaving off with a cliffhanger like that?</p><p>...Yes. Yes, I am</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. "Asgard's Not A Place..."</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The team works together to fight Hela and Maleficent's forces, and surprising allies show up to help...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Having successfully led the citizens of Asgard out of the mountains, Heimdall continued leading them across the rainbow bridge out of town to the observatory that allowed him to summon the Bifrost, intent on helping everyone escape the doomed city. He led the people across the bridge, but raised a hand to stop them when he realized there was something hidden in the smoke far in front of them. Fenris wolf growling confirmed his suspuscions.</p><p>Fenris growled in anger as he stood right in front of the observatory before taking a few steps forwards.</p><p>"Go back!" Heimdall instructed the scared citizens.</p><p>The people exclaimed in fear as they started running back down the bridge while Heimdall stood between them and the wolf in the distance with his arm raised in defense. Fenris started charging forwards to where they were, while skeleton soldiers and Soldier Heartless charged behind him.</p><p>"Go!" Heimdall instructed as Fenris charged forwards, each of his paws tearing part of the bridge as he charged forwards.</p><p>However, the wolf froze in surprise as rapid laser fire started hitting him. Donald and Bruce flew the Commodore out of the clouds and Valkyrie fired the blaster in the back while Goofy cheered her on. Fenris howled in anger before he slowly continued moving forwards.</p><p>The citizens continued moving down the bridge, but the men and women in front wearing armor and holding swords stopped at the sight of skeletons, Heartless, and Skurge and Pete walking towards them in the distance. The people held their swords in preparation as the enemies came to a stop behind Skurge and Pete.</p>
<hr/><p>In the throne room, Sora used Ever After's Shotlock Spectral Rays to make multiple mirrors appear around him that bounced off orbs of light towards Hela and dragon Maleficent, damaging them both, although Maleficent was the only one to exclaim in pain. Vanitas fired two rounds into the Dragon's head before backflipping away as it snapped its teeth at him.</p><p>Thor threw his staff towards his sister, and the sharp point at the top stabbed into Hela's stomach, but somehow didn't damage her. Thor then pulled the staff out and twirled around, slashing with the blade and knocking some of the long spikes on her helmet. Thor then spun around to attack with the staff, but Hela dodged it by spinning around herself before catching Thor's staff. She tossed it backwards, making the blade hit the ground.</p><p>Vanitas swung his machete at Hela, but she ducked before kicking him in the stomach, knocking him across the room into a pillar. Sora retaliated for his cousin with Fira, sending the blast of flames right at Hela. Hela took a cue from Thor's past and held her forearms up to make an X, absorbing the flames. She retaliated by making a blade appear from nowhere and launched it at Sora. Sora ducked to dodge the blade, and Vanitas caught it with his telekinesis, throwing the blade into the dragon instead, making Maleficent cry out in pain before she slammed her front paws on the ground, causing a shockwave that knocked back Sora and Vanitas.</p><p>Thor recovered enough to try jabbing his staff at Hela, but she caught it with her forearms, so he pulled back and attempted stabbing again, but she pushed it away with her right forearm. Thor pulled back again and twirled the staff, but Hela caught it.</p><p>"To be honest, I expected more," Hela taunted, grabbing the staff with both hands.</p><p>Thor exclaimed as Hela tossed the staff, making him let go as he was spun around in the air before landing roughly on the ground. Vanitas fired his Beretta five more times, with all of the bullets hitting her, but doing pretty much zero damage. The handgun clicked empty, and he looked at it in surprise before looking at Hela. Hela frowned and looked up at Maleficent.</p><p>"Take care of him," Hela told the dragon.</p><p>Maleficent nodded her head and bit Vanitas's jacket, making the ravenette exclaim as he was picked up while dropping his machete. Sora twirled his Keyblade in preparation and Airstepped to the dragon's head to help his cousin.</p>
<hr/><p>"Heimdall!" Skurge bellowed out to the gatekeeper, getting his attention. Skurge held out his opposite hand. "The sword!"</p><p>"Now!" Pete exclaimed.</p><p>Heimdall made it clear he wasn't gonna give up the sword, so Skurge held his battle axe with both hands, and Pete snapped his fingers. The armored skeletons and Soldiers charged past the two henchmen, ready for blood.</p>
<hr/><p>Sora attacked Maleficent enough to get energy to start Mirage Staff, which he used to slide and make two images of himself. Sora and his images sent out light from their staffs, hitting the dragon in the head enough to drop Vanitas, who landed on the ground with a grunt and a roll. Vanitas pulled out a fresh magazine and slipped it into his Beretta and sliding back the chamber before firing into Maleficent's head twice, which had little effect. He rolled away and put away his handgun before grabbing his dropped machete.</p><p>While Sora attacked the dragon with the magic attacks provided from his form, Vanitas's attention was quickly drawn to Thor, who was choke slammed against a wall by Hela.</p><p>"Here's the difference between us," Hela told Thor.</p><p>"You're a bitch?" Vanitas suggested, charging at Hela.</p><p>Hela looked over her shoulder at Vanitas and just tossed a blade towards him, but Vanitas blocked it by falling to the floor and sliding forwards on his knees. He then disappeared and reappeared behind Hela. Unfortunately, Hela saw that coming and back kicked the ravenette in the stomach, knocking him across the throne room again.</p><p>"V!" Sora called out, afraid for his cousin.</p><p>That distracted Sora long enough for Maleficent to breathe a large amount of green fire at him, knocking him into a pillar.</p><p>"Now, before I was so rudely interrupted," Hela told a struggling Thor. "I'm Odin's firstborn, the rightful heir, the savior of Asgard." She lifted him up against the wall. "And you're nothing."</p><p>Hela then chucked Thor over her shoulder, making him exclaim as he hit the floor. She walked towards Thor as he stood up, and Vanitas appeared in a teleport with his machete in hand. Hela tried stabbing at Thor, but he redirected the blade to the side before Vanitas retaliated with a slash from his machete. She tried stabbing at Vanitas, but the ravenette teleported away and Thor moved aside her blade. The two were in hand to hand combat before a bit before Hela slashed the blade into Thor's side, making him wince as he grabbed his side. Vanitas reappeared again, and Hela side kicked him in the face, knocking him back towards Maleficent.</p><p>The dragon had just sent fire at Sora, and he blocked it with his Keyblade, since Mirage staff had already run out. Vanitas exclaimed as he hit the dragon right in the head, making her exclaim. Sora attacked again with Blizzara, distracting the dragon long enough for Vanitas to recover with a Potion before he sent a fire ball at Maleficent's head.</p><p>Meanwhile, Hela turned towards the wounded Thor.</p><p>"So simple, even a blind man could see it," she snapped at him.</p><p>Thor looked up, which ended up being a mistake when Hela slashed her sword at him. He yelled out as his sister took out his right eye with her sword slash, gritting his teeth as he tried fighting through the pain. He closed his eyelid as the wound bled quite a bit, causing blood to cover his closed eyelid and part of his face. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>"Oh," Hela winced. "Now you remind me of Dad."</p><p>"What a bitch!" Vanitas exclaimed before yelling out in surprise, dodging a bite from the dragon's teeth.</p>
<hr/><p>Back on the Bifrost, the people of Asgard were doing their best with their swords and shields to defend themselves against the skeletons and Heartless, but they weren't doing that well. At the same time, Valkyrie kept firing her large gun at Fenris's face, but the wolf roared out in more annoyance than pain and kept charging forwards.</p><p>"This stupid dog won't die!" Valkyrie exclaimed to Donald and Bruce as she stopped the gunfire.</p><p>"How are we supposed to stop him?" Goofy wondered aloud as Fenris kept charging down the bridge towards Heimdall.</p><p>Bruce got a contemplative expression on his face before he made his choice and flew the ship down so it was in a good middle spot between Fenris and the people.</p><p>"No, Bruce!" Donald said, understanding what the scientist was doing as he stood up out of his seat. "You might not come back!"</p><p>Down on the bridge, Heimdall lifted the Bifrost sword in preparation to face the wolf. He took off his cloak and threw it to the side before gripping his blade with both hands.</p><p>"Everything's gonna be all right now," Bruce told Valkyrie as he walked up next to her. "I got this. You wanted to know who I am?"</p><p>He stepped up to the edge of the ship and looked down at the bridge.</p><p>"What the hell are you talking about?" Valkyrie asked.</p><p>"You'll see!" Bruce promised before jumping out of the ship and plummeting down towards the bridge.</p><p>"Bruce!" Goofy called out, wide eyed in worry for his friend.</p><p>Fenris kept charging at the people on the bridge while Heimdall held his sword, still ready. But then everyone stopped when Bruce landed roughly on the bridge right in front of the wolf. Bruce whimpered slightly as Fenris sniffed him in curious contemplation and nudged him with his nose. Shrugging him off, Fenris snarled and looked up at Heimdall again, charging forwards once more.</p><p>The people behind Heimdall whimpered in fear as the gatekeeper stood ready with his sword in both hands. Just as Fenris got close enough to attack, he snarled in confusion as something grabbed him by his tail and started pulling him backwards, to his dismay. Fenris howled as he was lifted up and slammed down onto the bridge again.</p><p>Getting back on his paws, Fenris looked up and growled at the sight of Hulk standing between him and the people. Hulk clenched his fists and roared out in challenge at the wolf. Valkyrie's jaw was dropped at the sight below them.</p><p>"Yeah, that's a normal reaction," Goofy admitted as Valkyrie looked up, realizing this made a lot of sense.</p><p>Fenris roared at Hulk and charged forwards, catching the green giant's left arm in his mouth. Hulk roared in displeasure as Fenris dragged him across the bridge, punching the wolf in the snout to try to get him to let go. Fenris ended up losing his footing, falling off of the bridge with Hulk hanging from his teeth, causing both of them to fall to the water below.</p><p>Goofy and Donald's attentions were drawn to the other side of the people, seeing that Pete was charging past the Heartless and skeletons, ready to attack on his own.</p><p>"That big lug!" Donald exclaimed as Valkyrie took the seat beside him.</p><p>"Go and teach him a lesson," she instructed the two. "I'll handle the ship."</p><p>"Only if you're sure," Goofy told her.</p><p>"Of course I'm sure," Valkyrie told them. "Now go!"</p><p>Donald and Goofy nodded at each other in confirmation before running down the ship and jumping out of the still open door, not noticing Heartless and skeletons climbing aboard the outside of the ship.</p><p>Pete was charging down the bridge with a determined expression on his face, and was just nearing the closest people to punch aside, when he exclaimed in surprise as Donald and Goofy landed in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.</p><p>"You wanna hurt these people..." Goofy started, summoning his shield and standing in his battle stance.</p><p>"Then you're gonna have to go through us!" Donald finished, summoning his staff and standing in his battle stance.</p><p>"Aw, you two nimrods," Pete complained before smirking. "Where's Sora and Vanitas? You can't do anything without the two of them."</p><p>"You're about to see just how dangerous we are without their help," Goofy told Pete with a determined expression.</p><p>"Bring it, you morons," Pete rebutted, raising his fists in preparation. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>Pete charged forwards and swung his fists, but Goofy deflected his attacks with his shield. Donald climbed up onto his taller friend's shoulders and blasted Pete right in the face with Blizzard, making the cat exclaim and take a few steps back. Goofy charged forwards with his shield, hitting Pete a few times before running past him. Pete growled in anger and slammed his fists into the ground, causing a shockwave that Donald and Goofy dodged by jumping.</p><p>Pete followed that up by rolling a ball at Donald and throwing firecrackers at Goofy. Donald jumped out of the way of the ball, letting it hit a skeleton instead, blowing it up. Goofy held up his shield to defend from the firecrackers as they exploded. Pete swung his right fist at Goofy, but he held up his shield to block it, and Pete exclaimed in pain as his fist hit the metal.</p><p>Goofy then called out as he swung his shield with so much force he knocked Pete up into the air. Donald then exclaimed as he jumped up over Pete and swung his staff into the cat, knocking him into the ground hard. Pete exclaimed as he stood up and charged at Donald, but Donald raised his staff and had a bunch of flares appear. He pointed his staff at Pete, and all the rockets flew into the cat, causing lots of explosions that made Pete exclaim in surprise and a little bit of pain.</p><p>Of course, not everyone fighting was doing well at it. Hela had dragged the injured Thor across the throne and outside to a balcony overlooking the rainbow bridge, holding him against the railing and making him watch the fighting that was happening below them, all while Sora and Vanitas were preoccupied with dragon-Maleficent in the throne room.</p><p>"You see?" Hela hissed to Thor in a taunt. "No one's going anywhere. I'll get that sword, even if I have to kill every single one of them to do it."</p><p>Sora exclaimed as he kept attacking with his magical combos from his re-summoned Mirage Staff, dodging a lot of quick bites from dragon-Maleficent's mouth. Vanitas was standing on the dragon's back, and yelled out in a victorious manner as he hacked at her neck with his machete, which didn't appear to physically hurt her, but he knew it was. He exclaimed as Maleficent flapped her wings, flying up in the large room and started flying around, trying to throw him off. Sora switched to his Kingdom Key threw up a Refocuser for himself, focusing again so he could attack with his Shotlock.</p><p>Fighting on the bridge was especially going poorly. People in combat with the skeletons and the Heartless were getting overwhelmed quickly. The Commodore crashed through columns before skittering across the bridge in front of the observatory, still crawling with enemies.</p><p>Heimdall managed to hold his own against the skeletons and Heartless by fighting with the Bifrost sword backhanded, but one skeleton managed to get him in the leg with its knife, making him fall to one knee. He was able to take out that skeleton and two High Soldiers with a single slash from his sword, but he still got knocked to the ground by another skeleton. He raised his hands in defense as the skeleton roared out and lifted its two knives...</p><p>But then the skeleton was blown up from behind by a blast from Korg's blaster. Korg stood to full height and rested his blaster on his shoulder, looking down at Heimdall.</p><p>"Hey, man," Korg greeted. Heimdall looked up in surprise as Miek stepped up next to Korg. "I'm Korg. This is Miek. We're gonna jump on that spaceship and get out of here. Wanna come?"</p><p>Heimdall and all the citizens on the bridge looked up in surprise at the sound of a large engine whirring through the smoke next to the bridge. Through that smoke came Loki wearing his helmet with Stitch on his shoulder.</p><p>"Your savior is here!" Loki announced as the rest of the ship, including the boarding platform he was standing on with the others from Sakaar, came into view.</p><p>"Jiggiba!" Stitch cheered, holding up his fists in excitement.</p><p>Thor chuckled at his brother's arrival.</p><p>"He always was one for his theatrics," Vanitas laughed with Sora before they exclaimed and dodged a ground slam from Maleficent.</p><p>Thor had to stop laughing when Hela made a knife appear on her gauntlet and stabbed him with it in the shoulder.</p><p>On the bridge, the boarding platform attached itself to the rainbow floor and Loki walked down with Stitch still riding on his shoulder.</p><p>"Did you miss me?" he asked the people as he walked through the crowd with a smile. "Everyone, on that ship now."</p><p>And they listened to him. While Loki kept going through the crowd down the bridge, the people ran up the boarding platform and climbed into the ship. He walked with some of the soldiers from the ship towards Heimdall, who had stood up again while Korg and Miek held off the skeletons and Heartless.</p><p>"Welcome home," Heimdall greeted. "I saw you coming."</p><p>"Of course you did," Loki commented. He gestured to the alien on his shoulder. "This is my friend, Stitch."</p><p>"Hi," Stitch said, smiling his wide, slightly freaky looking smile.</p><p>The skeletons and Heartless were still charging past Donald, Goofy, and Pete, who were still fighting just in front of the group. Loki took out his knives and Stitch jumped down onto the ground, pulling out his two red and yellow blasters. Heimdall stood ready with his sword while Korg held his blaster, Miek kept his knife hands ready, one soldier held a club, and another held a spear.</p><p>The skeletons and Heartless charged forwards, and the makeshift team fought them off. Heimdall hacked at them with his sword, Korg yelled out as he fired his blaster at skeletons and High Soldiers, Loki twirled around as he stabbed or slashed with his knives, Miek did the same with his knife hands, Stitch kept an angry expression as he blasted the enemies, taking each one out with two hits from his plasma blasters, and the other two soldiers fended off the enemies with their club and spear.</p><p>Not everyone managed to do well, though. The three headed alien got put in a headlock and stabbed in the chest, while Miek had his cyper-suit's limbs cut off, making him drop to the ground as he shrieked. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>"It's a valiant effort, but you never stood a chance," Hela taunted Thor as she pulled two more knives out of nowhere.</p><p>She spun Thor around and pressed him against his back against the railing, holding down one arm with her hand and keeping the other restrained with a knife through his forearm.</p><p>"You see..." Hela said with a smirk, grabbing Thor's neck with her free hand. "I'm not a queen or a monster."</p><p>Thor gasped in a desperate attempt to get air as he saw a vision of Odin in a grassy field.</p><p>"I'm the Goddess of Death," Hela said with a wide, sinister smile. "What were you the god of, again?"</p><p>Vanitas gasped and grabbed his head as he saw Thor's vision of being in a grassy field in Norway with Odin. In the vision, Thor panted as he slowly walked across the field and fell down to his knees.</p><p>"Even when you had two eyes, you'd see only half the picture," Odin commented.</p><p>"She's too strong," Thor panted. "Without my hammer, I can't."</p><p>Odin smirked and cocked his head to the side.</p><p>"Are you Thor, the God of Hammers?" Odin asked, reminding Thor and Vanitas of Bruce's words in the Commodore's dining room. "Hmm?"</p><p>Thor panted in and out as he looked at his father through his one eye.</p><p>"The hammer was to help you control your power, to focus it," Odin explained. "It was never the source of your strength."</p><p>"It's too late," Thor panted out, still in a bit of pain. "She's already taken Asgard."</p><p>Odin cocked his head slightly.</p><p>"Asgard is not a place," he pointed out. "Never was." He looked to the side and back to Thor. "This could be Asgard. Asgard is where our people stand. Even now, right now, those people need your help."</p><p>Thor panted as Odin turned around and started walking towards a pile of rocks.</p><p>"I'm not as strong as you," Thor admitted, shaking his head as he looked down.</p><p>Odin turned around and looked at Thor.</p><p>"No..." he agreed. "...you're stronger."</p><p>Odin smiled as he turned around and walked away. Thor looked down in contemplation as the vision ended for both him and Vanitas.</p><p>Vanitas exclaimed in surprise as he came out of the vision, and Sora landed next to his cousin, looking up at Dragon-Maleficent with wide eyes.</p><p>"I think she's nearly done," Sora told him. "She just needs one more hit."</p><p>"I've got this," Vanitas announced.</p><p>Vanitas put away his machete and placed one foot forwards, placing his hands together. A circle of telekinetic energy appeared between Vanitas's palms, and he looked up at the dragon with a determined expression. He yelled out in effort as he sent the energy in his hands towards the dragon to attack. The energy ended up being so powerful that it pushed the roaring dragon out of the entirety of the throne room, tearing apart some of the floor along the way.</p><p>"Whoa..." Sora said in amazement as Vanitas stood up straight. "What was <em>that</em>?"</p><p>"Saw it in a Star Wars video game once," Vanitas admitted. "It was called a Force Push." <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora healed the two of them with Cura and they ran down the hallway to the doorway out to the balcony where Hela was holding Thor against the railing. Wanting to help, Sora started moving forwards, but Vanitas held his arm up to stop his cousin from moving forwards.</p><p>"What are you doing?" Sora asked. "She's killing him."</p><p>"No," Vanitas said with a smirk, remembering what he saw in the vision. "She's just pissing him off."</p><p>"Tell me, brother," Hela coldly taunted Thor again. "What were you the god of again?"</p><p>Electricity started crackling between Thor's fingers, which actually surprised Hela. Blue light appeared over his eyes, and thunder started rumbling in the air as clouds formed, making Hela look up in surprised confusion. Thor yelled out as he made lightning blast fly down from the clouds and strike the balcony, taking out that front part of the castle and getting the attentions of practically everyone on the bridge.</p><p>The skeleton warriors and Heartless turned away from the group on the bridge and looked towards the palace, Pete looked towards it with a jaw dropped, giving Goofy the chance to hit him in the face with his shield, Heimdall finished a slash with his sword and looked towards the lightning strike, and Loki smirked as he realized what was happening. Hela was thrown from the balcony she was on and landed on the ground far below her, hard.</p><p>"Whoa..." Sora said, an amazed smile on his face.</p><p>"Cue the Led Zeppelin," Vanitas announced with his own smile.</p><p>Thor used the lightning from the blast to also launch himself to the bridge to help his allies out. A whole bunch of skeletons and High Soldiers started climbing on top of each other to try to reach Thor as he got closer, but Thor took all of them out in one move as he landed on one knee on the bridge, clearing away the enemies. Thor stood up to full height with lightning surging around him as an entire army of skeletons, Soldiers, and High Soldiers charged at him.</p><p>He wasn't too concerned. Thor lunged forwards while spinning, sending out lots of lightning blasts that took out lots of enemies or knocked others away, then went to hand to hand combat, sending out lots of lightning with each strike and taking out multiple enemies with each swing. He punched one and took out two skeletons and three Heartless, twirled around swinging a fist and took out skeletons and Heartless trying to surround him, and kicked another skeleton, taking out lots of enemies. He then grabbed the forearm of a skeleton trying to swing its sword at him and chucked it over his shoulder, sending out lots of bursts of electricity that took a lot of enemies out.</p><p>While Thor did that, Vanitas grabbed Sora by the shoulder and used his teleportation to bring them directly to the bridge from the throne room. Sora wasn't as disoriented as he usually was, but Vanitas clutched his chest in pain.</p><p>"You all right?" Sora asked.</p><p>"I just figured out why I never do long range teleportation," Vanitas admitted with a wince. "I think my lungs just switched places." <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora winced for his cousin, but then exclaimed in surprise as a skeleton slashed its sword at him. Vanitas fought through his pain and grabbed the skeleton's forearm, directing the sword away and stabbing it in the chest before kicking it off the bridge.</p><p>Just a little further down the bridge, Donald hit Pete in the face with a few more flares before Goofy hit him with his shield, ending their fight. Pete exclaimed in surprise before looking around at all the violence happening around him.</p><p>"This was <em>not</em> what I signed up for!" he exclaimed, running past the skeletons and Heartless around him. "I'm gettin' outta here!"</p><p>"Is it me, or has he gotten weirder?" Donald asked Goofy.</p><p>"It's definitely not you," Goofy admitted before they stood in their battle stances.</p><p>The skeletons and Heartless were still coming, so they started swinging weapons, or, in Donald's case, casting spells to help out.</p><p>And they weren't the only ones still fighting. Valkyrie had climbed out of the crashed ship with her hair flowing down her shoulders, as the ship shot up fireworks behind her. Dragonfang in hand, Valkyrie walked towards the two skeletons charging at her, taking them out with lots of slashes with her sword.</p><p>In the water below the bridge, Hulk was still fighting off Fenris. The gigantic wolf lunged at him with his mouth open, but Hulk caught each of Fenris's lips, yelling out in anger as he held back the wolf before punching it in the face. Hulk then grabbed Fenris by his nose and slammed the wolf down on its back in the water.</p><p>On the bridge, Loki had taken off his helmet and was using it as a weapon against the enemies around him, which worked due to the two long, curled spiked ends. Loki cut one skeleton with his knife before jumping in a flip and rolling on the ground to dodge another skeleton's sword slash, getting up on one knee. He swung his helmet at the skeleton's knee, making it fall to the ground, before stabbing it in the stomach. Loki tossed up his helmet to readjust it in his hand and hit a Soldier in the face with it then stabbing the Heartless in the chest, destroying it.</p><p>"I never did like relying on those things," Loki admitted, kicking aside a High Soldier.</p><p>Stitch laughed wickedly as he shot the High Soldier a bunch of times with his plasma blasters, literally breaking the Heartless apart into pieces.</p><p>Thor kept doing awesome stuff with his lightning attacks. He pulled in one skeleton and sent it flying as it broke into pieces falling into the water. Then he knocked aside a High Soldier in front of him then a skeleton behind him, taking them both out. A skeleton charged at Thor, but he grabbed it by the neck and lunged up over three skeletons, two Soldiers, and a High Soldier, taking each one out with lightning strikes. Even more skeletons and Heartless tried charging at Thor from both the front and the back, but he fought them off with two swords, not even using the blades during half of his strikes as he attacked the enemies.</p><p>Vanitas hacked at a skeleton in front of him before firing his Beretta at a High Soldier, hitting it in the chest twice and destroying it. He then teleported in front of another skeleton and impaled it before teleporting just a foot away and kneeing a High Soldier in the stomach, making it fall down so he could stab it in the back with his blade. Next to him, Heimdall took out multiple enemies at once with each swing of his very long Bifrost sword.</p><p>"Nice to see you finally getting your due diligence, buddy," Vanitas told Heimdall before shooting another skeleton twice in the face.</p><p>Sora attacked all enemies around him with his Kingdom Key, getting enough energy to start Second Form quite a few times. At one point, he let the move run out and kept doing the wicked combos with the combo finishers of Explosion, Aerial Finish, and Magnet Burst, and other times he finished the moves off with the Finish attacks of Sonic Blade, Stun Impact, and even Ars Arcanum.</p><p>With all of their forces around them getting destroyed pretty easily, Pete and Skurge stood together, realizing things weren't going very well. Skurge even looked down at the battle axe in his hands and just dropped it to the ground, done with everything Hela made him do.</p><p>"I wish I had your confidence," Pete admitted. "But Maleficent is just so scary."</p><p>"You'll get there one day," Skurge promised Pete. "I hope I get to see you again one day."</p><p>"Me, too," Pete admitted with a smile. "You were nice."</p><p>Everyone was still doing great on the bridge. Korg and Stitch kept blasting apart Heartless and skeletons, Heimdall, Valkyrie, and Vanitas slashed them to pieces with their blades, and Donald and Goofy kept knocking around the enemies and destroying them with ease.</p><p>The only one that was in trouble at the moment was Hulk. Fenris had grabbed him in his teeth and was shaking the yelling green giant around quite a bit. He then slammed Hulk down in the water and stayed under, biting into Hulk's calf. Hulk yelled out in pain as the large dog tooth went into his leg, making his dark green blood spew out into the water. Hulk did his best to get his bearings underwater and punched Fenris right in the face.</p><p>Luckily, neither of them noticed that their fighting literally brought them to the edge of the world. So, when Hulk punched Fenris off of him, the gigantic wolf fell down the waterfall to the void below. Fenris howled out as he fell into the eternal nothingness, and Hulk grabbed onto a rock to make sure he didn't join him.</p><p>Skurge joined the crowd of people climbing aboard the spaceship disguised with a robe. While he did that, Heimdall and the others that had escaped Sakaar were corralling the remains of the crowd onto the ship as the rest of the team met up together since all the skeletons and Heartless were destroyed. Sora, Vanitas, Thor, Donald, Goofy, Loki, and Stitch walked past the dead skeletons on the bridge as they got close to each other.</p><p>"You're late," Thor commented to Loki, electricity gone and a little breathless.</p><p>"You're missing an eye," Loki countered.</p><p>"We've had a crazy day, man," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"A very crazy day," Sora emphasized.</p><p>"Hi!" Stitch said, waving with one hand and smiling.</p><p>"Good to see ya," Goofy told the little blue alien with a smile.</p><p>"Thanks for getting him out," Vanitas said, smiling gratefully at Loki.</p><p>"I couldn't leave him when he very clearly didn't want to be there," Loki admitted with a small smile of his own.</p><p>"This isn't over," Valkyrie announced, walking past the group.</p><p>The boys all followed her and saw that Hela had recovered enough and was walking across the dead skeletons on the bridge right towards them. Maleficent was behind her, looking wounded, but smirking with her victory assured thanks to Hela.</p><p>"Oh, come on," Donald complained.</p><p>"I never did enjoy working for that witch," Loki admitted, frowning at Maleficent. He then looked at Vanitas. "For the record, that's why I turned you down for the offer to hide your friends here. As much as I didn't want to anger Thanos, I also didn't want to piss off any more people like her, and I already had an idea of what those Organization people were from her words alone."</p><p>"You're forgiven," Vanitas said. "One's alive again, and two are hiding inside Sora's heart."</p><p>Loki looked at Sora with a curious eye raised.</p><p>"My heart's basically a hotel for other peoples' hearts," Sora said, remembering Vanitas's earlier jokes.</p><p>"We'll get into that weirdness later," Loki decided.</p><p>"I think we should disband the Revengers," Thor admitted as the entire group panted in and out a bit from all the fighting they had just done.</p><p>"Hit her with a lightning blast," Loki suggested, gesturing to Hela.</p><p>"I just hit her with the biggest lightning blast in the history of lightning," Thor remarked. "It did nothing."</p><p>"I've got something that might do some damage," Donald admitted. "But with how you guys say she heals, it might only just piss her off and leave me half dead."</p><p>"Yeah, let's save that for a last ditch effort," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"We just need to hold her off until everyone's onboard," Valkyrie announced.</p><p>"It won't end there," Thor remarked. "The longer Hela's on Asgard, the more powerful she grows. She'll hunt us down."</p><p>"I, for one, don't want another powerful villainess constantly after us," Sora admitted. "We get enough of that with Maleficent."</p><p>"Sora's right," Thor said, surprising the Gummi quartet since they were used to the god always referring to him as friend first. "We need to stop her here and now."</p><p>"So what do we do?" Valkyrie asked.</p><p>"I'm not doing 'Get Help,'" Loki announced, putting his foot down.</p><p>Thor took a few steps forwards and watched Hela walk towards them. He then looked over his shoulder at the people climbing aboard the ship before looking at her again.</p><p>"Asgard's not a place, it's a people," Thor announced.</p><p>Luckily for the confused members of the group, which happened to be the entire group, he started explaining.</p><p>"Loki," Thor said, looking at his brother. "This was never about <em>stopping</em> Ragnarok. This was about <em>causing</em> Ragnarok. Surtur's crown, the vault."</p><p>Sora, Vanitas, Donald, Goofy, Valkyrie, and even Loki went wide eyed in surprise at Thor's declaration.</p><p>"It's the only way," Thor admitted.</p><p>"Bold move, brother," Loki commented. "Even for me." He looked down. "Stitch, come."</p><p>"Let's go, Ki!" Stitch announced, climbing up Loki onto his shoulders.</p><p>"Still haven't gotten the name down," Loki admitted before running down the bridge towards the Commodore.</p><p>"I love that alien," Vanitas admitted with a smile.</p><p>With Loki and Stitch gone, the remaining members of the group, Sora, Vanitas, Donald, Goofy, Thor, and Valkyrie, got into battle stances in preparation.</p><p>"Shall we?" Thor asked Valkyrie.</p><p>"I thought you'd never ask," Vanitas said.</p><p>"Let's get her!" Donald announced.</p><p>"Right!" Sora agreed with a nod of the head.</p><p>Still a little surprised from the plan, Valkyrie looked at Thor and said with a surprisingly calm voice, "After you."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 That certainly took me by surprise. How often do you see a PG-13 movie take out someone's eye?</p><p>*2 In the games, they always seem to forget that Donald and Goofy are actually pretty tough on their own. They've fought Pete who knows how many times over the years and prevailed a lot. This was always planned, to help show off how badass they can be</p><p>*3 First time I watched this movie, I actually didn't know Miek was wearing a suit, I thought he was actually getting his limbs cut off. I remember, I thought it was so dark</p><p>*4 That was intentional to add since the Force Awakens games, the one he's referencing, is included for the Unlimited series, where I have Roxas in place of Starkiller. The game is cool, and nothing will ever convince me otherwise</p><p>*5 Even someone who's both a demigod and an Enhanced has their limits</p><p>Sorry for another cliffhanger. I've gotten better at writing stories, but not that much better at writing endings</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. "...It's A People."</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group finishes fighting Hela, and start Ragnarok...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Thor had lightning appear around himself again as he lunged at Hela, who launched two blades at the thunder god, but he shattered them to pieces with lightning. He started slashing his two blades at Hela, but she managed to dodge each of them by being very quick. Thor lunged forwards, but Hela got low enough to dodge and Thor went right over her, landing with a roll further down the bridge.</p><p>Now that they were close enough, Sora, Vanitas, and Donald worked together to start Flare Force X, making the many rockets appear and send them to attack Hela, causing lots of explosions that blinded her a bit. When she could see again, Valkyrie was charging at her and slashing her blade. Hela dodged or deflected Valkyrie's attacks before grabbing her by the arm and chucking her down the bridge, where she landed in a roll.</p><p>Thor lunged forwards again covered in lightning, once again shattering blades launched at him with strikes. Deciding to be on theme, Sora and Donald cast Thunder on Hela, damaging her a bit and making the yellow outline appear around her. Thor hit Hela with his own lightning and knocked her up as he landed. He used his own lightning to slam Hela down into the bridge, causing Sora and Donald's lightning to spark and hurt her a bit more. Thor then stabbed one of his swords down at her, but Hela dodged it with a quick roll. She then jumped back while spinning, throwing two swords at Thor. One hit him and did little damage, but the other hit him and knocked him to the ground, making the electricity around him disappear.</p><p>Goofy then slid around on his shield like it was a sleigh, attacking Hela quite a bit but also confusing her. Sora started his Shotlock King of Hearts, sending the many heart shaped projectiles into the villainess to attack. After getting over her confusion from that Hela grabbed at Vanitas's forearm as the ravenette raised his machete to attack, stopping him. But then Vanitas smirked and teleported a few feet down the bridge. He made a large ball of fire appear in his hand and chucked it at Hela. Hela sent a blade through it, causing it to explode right before it could hit her. Sora and Vanitas both charged at her, and she threw blades at them that they dodged.</p><p>While they did that, Loki and Stitch had climbed back aboard the Commodore and were flying it towards the palace.</p><p>"This is madness," Loki commented.</p><p>"But we're doing it, anyway," Stitch rebutted.</p><p>"True," Loki agreed with a slight cock of the head.</p><p>On the bridge, lots of people were still climbing up the boarding platform to enter the ship, and Skurge stood in one corner, trying to keep his guilty expression from being seen by any of the people he had fought against.</p><p>Thor, covered in electricity again, punched at a blade Hela tried sending at him, destroying it, then grabbed his sister and chucked her over his shoulder. But she composed herself in the air and sent blades at Valkyrie and Goofy below her. Goofy blocked with his shield while Valkyrie knocked all the blades away with her sword. Hela landed, and the two had to start defending against Hela's attacks, Valkyrie by dodging or defending with her Dragonfang while Goofy did the same with his shield.</p><p>Thor looked over his shoulder towards the ship as Hela knocked aside Valkyrie and attacked Goofy, who was getting a bit more frightened with each second.</p><p>"Go!" he yelled at Heimdall. "Go, now!"</p><p>Heimdall acquiesced and ran the rest of the way up the boarding platform into the ship. Hela knocked aside Goofy and started throwing long spears at Thor. One missed and when he turned to face his sister with lightning flaring around himself again, she stabbed him in the chest and threw him down the bridge. Sora, Donald, and Vanitas yelled out as they charged at Hela, but she raised her arms up and caught the cousins' blades easily, stopping them in their tracks. Donald jumped up between them and blasted Hela right in the face with Fire...</p><p>Which did absolutely nothing.</p><p>"Wow, you really are tough," Donald commented.</p><p>Hela growled more in annoyance than anger as she lifted Sora and Vanitas up by their blades, tossing the cousins over her shoulder and making them fall down onto their backs, hard. Donald raised his staff in defense, but Hela kicked him right in the face, sending him down the bridge.</p><p>"Is it too late for us to get on the ship?" Donald asked, woozily, before dropping his head down onto the bridge floor.</p><p>The ship had already ignited its' bottom thrusters and had started flying up, but Hela waved her hands and made a gigantic spike grow out of the water and stab into the ship, right at the exit port, stopping it in the air.</p><hr/><p>In the palace, Loki had ran through the throne room and down into the treasure room with Stitch still riding on his shoulder. He grabbed Surtur's crown and started carrying it towards the Eternal Flame, but his attention was quickly drawn to the Tesseract.</p><p>"What that?" Stitch asked, genuinely curious.</p><hr/><p>With the spike attached to the ship, keeping it from leaving, newly resurrected skeletons and Soldiers started climbing up it to reach the ship. People inside exclaimed in fear as they tried desperately to get away from the open port in the small room. In his concealed position, Skurge got a good look at the frightened people around him, and made his decision. The first of the skeletons made it to the top of the pole, coming right into the small room. A soldier tried fighting them off, but quickly got knocked down by the enemy with blades.</p><p>Just as the skeleton raised its sword to finish off the soldier, automatic gunfire erupted from Skurge's M16s, taking out the Skeleton and Soldier in the room, along with most of the spike.</p><p>People cleared out of the way as Skurge stepped in front of the open doorway with his guns raised. Skeletons and Soldiers kept trying to climb inside, but Skurge fired his assault rifles with a determined expression, knocking them all off of the ship. He stepped forwards and alternated fire between each of his rifles as he kept the enemies off of the ship. Once he got close enough to the edge, Skurge raised his two rifles.</p><p>"For Asgard," he announced, before jumping over the edge.</p><p>Vanitas and Sora were able to see from their angles as Skurge pointed his guns downwards at the Soldiers and skeletons, firing at them to keep them off of the ship. Thanks to his gunfire breaking apart the top of the large spike, the ship was able to break apart from the rest of the spike and start flying up. Skurge landed on the base of the spike and fired with both of his rifle before alternating shots with each gun at the enemies around him. He then looked up at the leaving ship. Satisfied that he had accomplished his mission, Skurge turned forwards and looked past all the enemies in front of him to Hela.</p><p>"Hela!" Skurge bellowed to get the villainess's attention.</p><p>With skeletons and Heartless still charging at him, Skurge pointed each of his rifles at them and kept firing, before also using them to block the enemies incoming sword attacks. When the rifles clicked empty, Skurge just head-butted aside the skeleton in front of him and dropped one, using the other as a club to take out a couple of enemies.</p><p>But then the moment ended when Hela gestured towards Skurge without any emotion, and a sword went right through the middle of his chest. Skurge exclaimed before slowly falling to the ground, dying for his people.</p><p>"His plan worked, though, bitch," Vanitas announced, standing up and getting Hela's attention. "The people are safe."</p><p>"Now you've got us to deal with," Sora added as the ship slowly continued its ascension upwards.</p><hr/><p>In the treasure room, Loki placed Surtur's crown in the Eternal Flame and watched as the flames surged around the base of the skull.</p><p>"With the Eternal Flame, you are reborn," Loki announced.</p><p>"Is this bad?" Stitch asked.</p><p>"Very," Loki admitted with a nod, still looking at the crown.</p><p>"Uh, oh," Stitch said, now a little scared.</p><p>Within moments, the fire grew greater in the stand, and soon a face appeared in the crown as it started rising.</p><p>"We should run," Loki admitted.</p><hr/><p>Things still weren't going well on the bridge. Everyone did their best to fight against Hela, but she was too strong for all of them. Sora and Vanitas were knocked down the bridge with Thor while Donald and Goofy were knocked down another side with Valkyrie. Valkyrie was on the ground, shuffling towards her downed sword as Hela walked towards her slowly, smirking since she wanted to enjoy her victory.</p><p>"Hela, enough!" Thor announced as he stood up, his back to the palace. Hela turned to face him as Sora and Vanitas winced as they stood up next to their friend. "You want Asgard, it's yours."</p><p>"You win, bitch," Vanitas added with a wince.</p><p>"Whatever game you're playing, it won't work," Hela told them. "You can't defeat me."</p><p>"No, we know," Thor admitted as fire started spreading through the palace behind them. He pointed back at the palace with his thumb. "But he can."</p><p>"I hope you don't mind the place a little hot," Sora told Hela.</p><p>Before Vanitas could question how Sora came up with a quip that good, the palace far behind them exploded from the inside as Surtur rose up to his newly enhanced height with his sword drawn, roaring as fire surrounded him. Valkyrie, Donald, and Goofy got the message while Hela looked up at Surtur with her eyes wide.</p><p>"No," she denied.</p><p>Valkyrie lunged forwards and stabbed Hela through the chest, knocking her to the ground. As Valkyrie slid towards Thor, Sora and Donald got ready. The two of them sent up Thunder magic at the same time Thor made a gigantic burst of lightning appear. The lightning attacks combined in the air and worked together to smash part of the bridge under Hela, making the villainess fall down right into the water below with a gigantic splash.</p><p>"Tremble before me, Asgard!" Surtur announced, getting the group's attention. "I am your reckoning!"</p><p>"Hey, can you do your Mr Krabs voice?" Vanitas yelled up at Surtur, even though he knew the fire giant wouldn't hear it. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>Everyone, including Heimdall on the ship with the people of Asgard, watched with surprise and shock as Surtur swung his gigantic blade down, taking apart large chunks of the city with enormous slashes of fire, some of which caused explosions. Donald and Goofy joined Sora, Vanitas, Thor, and Valkyrie and looked back at the ship that was still slowly ascending towards space.</p><p>"The people are safe," Valkyrie announced. She looked at Thor and patted him on the chest reassuringly. "That's all that matters."</p><p>"And we did that," Sora added, patting the thunder god on the shoulder. "We protected them."</p><p>"Let's just not think about what else we did," Vanitas added with a reassuring smile.</p><p>His smile dropped when another explosion went off in the city behind them, making it pretty much impossible to not do what he suggested. All six of them turned to look at the city, seeing Surtur still swinging his sword into various buildings and destroying them.</p><p>"We're fulfilling the prophecy," Thor announced.</p><p>"I hate this prophecy," Valkyrie admitted.</p><p>"Everyone always does," Vanitas admitted, sensing that Hulk had climbed back up onto the bridge behind them.</p><p>"So do I, but we have no choice," Thor said. "Surtur destroys Asgard, he destroys Hela, so that our people may live."</p><p>"Uh, guys..." Vanitas said, looking back with Sora to see Hulk charging forwards.</p><p>"But we need to let him finish the job," Thor continued as Hulk lunged up, yelling out. "Otherwise..."</p><p>His attention was quickly following his friends' gazes up to Hulk, who was flying (not literally) through the air towards Surtur's face with his fists raised to attack.</p><p>"No," Thor said, surprised.</p><p>Hulk hit Surtur in the face with enough impact to send the giant reeling for a bit, while the green man held on to attack.</p><p>"Hulk, stop, you moron!" Thor bellowed.</p><p>"Stop fighting the guy!" Donald added.</p><p>"This is one situation where we let the bad guy win!" Sora added as Hulk rammed his fists into Surtur's crown, successfully making a few small holes.</p><p>Surtur exclaimed in annoyance as he picked up Hulk and tossed him towards the Bifrost, making the large, green man exclaim as he rolled on the ground before coming to a stop.</p><p>"Hulk, stop," Thor instructed as Hulk started pushing up onto his hands and knees. "Just for once in your life, don't smash."</p><p>Hulk stood up and looked towards Surtur before looking at his friends with a pleading expression.</p><p>"Big monster!" he begged with his hands to the side.</p><p>"Too fucking bad!" Vanitas exclaimed.</p><p>"Yeah, we gotta get outta here!" Goofy agreed.</p><p>"So let's go!" Valkyrie told Hulk.</p><p>Hulk sighed in slight anger before agreeing, "Fine."</p><p>He ran towards the group as the ground started shaking, making it clear things were about to get even worse. Vanitas made his boots appear as he wrapped one arm around Donald and the other around Goofy. Hulk got close enough to grab Thor and Valkyrie in his arms, and Sora climbed up onto the green man's back. Together, Hulk and Vanitas helped their friends up to the ship, Hulk leaping up and Vanitas flying with his boots, and they managed to hop onto the ship while the bay doors were still open, allowing them to escape with the people.</p><p>The group quickly made their way to the large window that Heimdall and a lot of other people were watching the city below them. Large black spikes that had to no doubt come from Hela flew out of the water and started hitting Surtur, annoying him more than hurting him. Hela burst out of the water on top of a gigantic tyrade of spikes and threw even more at the fire giant.</p><p>But, like the other ones, they just annoyed him more than they hurt. Surtur easily pulled one out and tossed it to the side before raising his gigantic blade in the air.</p><p>"I am Asgard's doom!" Surtur bellowed, spinning his sword in preparation.</p><p>Surtur laughed as he held his sword with two hands, backhanded, preparing to stab it into the ground. Hela tried sending more spikes into the fire giant, but then went wide eyed when she saw it wasn't doing anything. Her eyes widened even further at the sight of Surtur's gigantic sword traveling down right at her. With a stab of Surtur's sword, Hela was quickly taken out as the sword went through her and the ground, which caused fire to spread out through the city, igniting everything from the buildings to the mountains.</p><p>Everyone watched on the escaping spaceship as Surtur drove his sword down to near the hilt, burning most of the city.</p><p>"The damage is not too bad," Korg announced, reassuringly, while holding Miek in his arms. "As long as the foundations are still strong, we can rebuild this place. It will become a haven, for all peoples and aliens of the universe."</p><p>And then Surtur finished driving his sword into the ground, which caused the entirety of Asgard to explode into a gigantic blast of blue light that sent rocks flying in every direction.</p><p>"Too soon, buddy," Vanitas told Korg with a wince.</p><p>"N-now those foundations are gone," Korg said, embarrassed. "Sorry."</p><p>"Whoa..." Sora said, eyes wide in horrified surprise with Donald and Goofy. They had seen worlds fall to darkness before, but they had never seen worlds completely destroyed.</p><p>The people all behind them had similar expressions, but had much more sadness on their faces. They had all just lost their <em>home</em>.</p><p>"What have I done?" Thor asked himself.</p><p>"You saved us from extinction," Heimdall told Thor. "Asgard is not a place..." He and Thor shared a look. "It's a people."</p><p>"These people," Vanitas told Thor to reassure both him and his shipmates. "The ones we just saved. That was just a place. As long as they're still alive, then Asgard's still alive."</p><p>Thor looked from his friends to the people behind them and thought for a second before nodding in agreement.</p><p>"As long as you're still alive, too," he told the Gummi quartet. "After all, what you've done to help my people has proven the four of you... true Asgardians."</p><p>Vanitas looked among his shipmates, and the four of them nodded in agreement.</p><p>"It's a great honor," Sora told Thor with a small smile.</p><p>"We accept," Vanitas added, shaking his friend's offered hand in gratitude...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 Surtur is played by Clancy Brown, aka Mr Krabs</p><p>Hey, I've got this idea that now that I'm a bit better at writing, I could try to do a remake of my first story, the Birth By Sleep one. Like I said, with that story, I just made up a lot of stuff on the spot and didn't give Vanitas a lot of moves to do with his Keyblade outside of the teleport, combo attacks, and three or four spells. If I do a remake, like with all remakes, the original will still be there, it'll just be an updated version with slightly better writing. Thoughts?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Earth It Is</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Asgard has a new king...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It didn't take too long for the group to get patched up from everything that had happened. The biggest wound received from any of them was Thor's missing eye. A medic did their work to heal it and had a metal eyepatch placed over, so that people weren't distracted by his wound. Thor currently stood with Vanitas in a lounge like area, pouring two glasses of alcohol in green cups for them.</p>
<p>"Hey, it's not bad," Vanitas admitted as Thor looked in a mirror once again, observing the eye patch. "Makes you look more rugged."</p>
<p>Their attentions were quickly drawn to the appearance of Loki coming through the doorway. Thor turned from the mirror and looked at his brother while Vanitas raised his cup to his lips to drink.</p>
<p>"It suits you," Loki told Thor.</p>
<p>Thor looked down and picked up the metal cap from the alcohol container.</p>
<p>"You know, maybe you're not so bad after all, brother," Thor commented.</p>
<p>"Maybe not," Loki agreed with a smile.</p>
<p>"Thank you," Thor said, fiddling with the metal cap in his hands. "If you were here, I might even give you a hug."</p>
<p>Thor tossed the metal cap towards Loki, and the god of Mischief caught it in his right hand with a smirk. Thor smiled back.</p>
<p>"I'm here," Loki promised.</p>
<p>"I'll give you two some quality sibling time," Vanitas announced with a smile, taking his cup and leaving the room. "Just don't kill each other."</p>
<hr/>
<p>As the ship continued flying through the void of space, the Gummi quartet stood with Hulk, Stitch, Valkyrie, Heimdall, and Korg in the front of a large chamber, around a circular chair that served as a makeshift throne. In front of that chamber was a large window allowing view out of the ship, but their attentions were drawn to the crowd of Asgardians in front of them.</p>
<p>The people stepped out of the way and bowed at Thor as he walked among them to join his friends. Vanitas had already explained to his shipmates that with Hela dead, Thor was next in line for the throne. And both Thor and Loki didn't appear to have a problem with it. Evident from Thor stepping up to the chair and Loki standing near Hulk with a proud smile, while still staying out of the green giant's eyeline.</p>
<p>"Your throne," Valkyrie told Thor with a reassuring smile.</p>
<p>"You earned it," Sora told Thor with his own smile.</p>
<p>Thor looked at his friends gratefully as he stepped around the chair and took a seat in his throne. Loki stepped up to the throne to be there for his brother, but the Gummi quartet didn't miss how Hulk clenched his fists at the sight of the raven haired god.</p>
<p>'<em>Play nice</em>,' Vanitas mentally snapped at Hulk. '<em>He's a good guy now</em>.'</p>
<p>'<em>Fine</em>,' Hulk begrudgingly thought back.</p>
<p>"So," Heimdall said with a small smile of his own as he kept holding the Bifrost sword in his hands. "King of Asgard."</p>
<p>Thor looked over his shoulder at the people and smiled at them while doing a small wave. He then looked forwards again with his friends out the window.</p>
<p>"Where to?" Heimdall finished.</p>
<p>"I'm not sure," Thor admitted, looking among his friends. "Any suggestions?"</p>
<p>"Well, we got Traverse Town, but with this thing's engines, it'll take us three months to get there," Vanitas admitted, wincing as he used his powers to sense the fastest route. Unfortunately, that was the fastest route.</p>
<p>"Can't we upgrade the engines?" Goofy asked.</p>
<p>"If we try, we'll blow them up and kill everyone onboard," Vanitas said, using his powers to see that scenario.</p>
<p>"Let's not do that," Donald quickly said, and Loki, Valkyrie, Heimdall, Thor, Sora, Stitch, and Goofy nodded in agreement.</p>
<p>"Miek, where are you from?" Thor asked, looking at the purple, bug like alien in Korg's arm.</p>
<p>"Oh, Miek's dead," Korg said, pointing at his friend. "Yeah, no, I accidentally stomped on him on the bridge. I've just felt so guilty, I've been carrying him around all day."</p>
<p>But then the purple alien chittered awake, raising his head and reaching out his arms.</p>
<p>'<em>I'm not dead, I was asleep! </em>' Vanitas heard in his head.</p>
<p>'<em>Wait, you think in English, or do I understand your language? </em>' Vanitas mentally asked.</p>
<p>"Miek, you're alive!" Korg gasped in happiness. He looked at the others and pointed at the purple bug. "He's alive, guys. What was your question again, bro?"</p>
<p>Thor had his mouth open in surprised confusion a bit before looking forwards with a small smile.</p>
<p>"Earth it is," he announced.</p>
<p>"Cool," Vanitas said. "We can pick up a Quinjet and use it to continue our journey to stop the old man."</p>
<p>"Or you can take the red, white, and yellow ship we picked up on the way here," Loki interjected.</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet looked at Loki in wide eyed surprise.</p>
<p>"That's..." Donald started.</p>
<p>"Your ship, yes I know," Loki said with a smile. "I remembered it pretty well from when we had all left Earth last time. I figured you'd prefer to go through the stars in a vessel you're familiar with."</p>
<p>Vanitas chuckled a bit and looked at his friends with smiles before looking at Loki again.</p>
<p>"You're all right, Loki," Vanitas said, holding out his hand.</p>
<p>"As are you, V," Loki said, smiling back.</p>
<p>Loki took Vanitas's hand and the two shook, but then Vanitas stuttered out as he was electrocuted again. Vanitas quickly took his hand back as Loki laughed and lifted up his hands, showing an Obedience Disk facing outwards in his right palm, and the activation device in his left hand. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"I am the God of Mischief, after all," Loki said with a smile.</p>
<p>Vanitas gave a small huff while Sora, Donald, Goofy, Stitch, Thor, Valkyrie, and even Heimdall tried to hide their smirks.</p>
<p>"I hate and love you at the same time," Vanitas told Loki.</p>
<p>"Join the club," Thor commented with a smirk.</p>
<p>"What about you, Stitch?" Goofy asked, he and Donald kneeling down to look at the alien better.</p>
<p>"You gonna stick around, or do you wanna come with us again?" Donald asked.</p>
<p>Stitch looked around in thought for a couple of seconds before looking at the Gummi quartet.</p>
<p>"Stitch wants to go back to Radiant Garden," he announced. "Stitch misses Leon, Cid, Fie, and Ae."</p>
<p>"All right," Vanitas said, offering his shoulder to Stitch.</p>
<p>The little blue alien climbed up Vanitas and stood on the ravenette's shoulder.</p>
<p>"Bye, Ki!" Stitch said, waving goodbye to Loki.</p>
<p>"Loki," Loki corrected Stitch with a smile and a wave. "You'll get it eventually."</p>
<p>The group said their goodbyes to their friends.</p>
<p>"Safe travels, my friends," Thor told them.</p>
<p>"Behave," Vanitas told Hulk, pointing at the green giant. "Thor will tell me if you don't."</p>
<p>"Yeah, yeah," Hulk commented in an annoyed voice before looking serious. "Smash stuff for Hulk."</p>
<p>"Always have, always will," Vanitas promised the green giant.</p>
<p>"May the gods grant you luck on your journey," Heimdall told the group.</p>
<p>"Thanks," Sora said, gratefully. "We need it."</p>
<p>"See ya, Bladekey wielders!" Korg waved goodbye with his free hand.</p>
<p>"Kick some ass for me, eh?" Valkyrie requested with a smile.</p>
<p>"You got it," Donald assured the former scrapper.</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet stepped down from the stand with Stitch still on Vanitas's shoulders, then they bowed in respect for Thor. The four straightened up and placed their fists over their hearts, chanting in unison, "For Asgard." After Sora picked up a keychain, they made their way through the ship for their own ship, ready for the next course of their journey...</p>
<hr/>
<p>On the other side of the galaxy, a dark corridor opened up in a dark room. The room itself was still circular, with columns going up to the ceiling and a purple brick wall on one side. Maleficent and Pete walked through and Pete sat down on a black chair, sighing out in exhaustion. Maleficent, meanwhile, sighed out in despair as she walked across the room to the black bookshelf with grey covered books.</p>
<p>"She was our last ally in our conquest to take over all worlds!" Maleficent wailed. "Now what are we supposed to do?"</p>
<p>"Well, we could just give up the conquest and live peaceful lives together," Pete suggested with a smile.</p>
<p>But then he exclaimed in fear and ducked as green fire sailed over his head, hitting the blank wall behind him.</p>
<p>"Or... we could not do that?" Pete asked, a little nervous.</p>
<p>"Precisely, you blithering idiot," Maleficent snapped. "We must be extra careful. Without Hela and her army, there is very little we can do against those 'Organizers' and..."</p>
<p>Her attention was drawn to a Soldier appearing in the usual flash of dark light in front of her. The Soldier waved its arms frantically and gestured forwards. Maleficent understood what it wanted and leaned down so her ear was next to the Soldier's open helmet. Pete cocked his head in confusion at the sight, but understood that the Heartless was most likely whispering to something to Maleficent.</p>
<p>Judging by the way her eyes widened, it wasn't anything good.</p>
<p>"What?" Maleficent asked, in shock. "Are you sure?"</p>
<p>The Soldier nodded its head.</p>
<p>"Oh, this is not good," Maleficent said, standing to her full height and with an expression of genuine fear on her face.</p>
<p>"What?" Pete asked, standing up as the Soldier disappeared. "What is it?"</p>
<p>"Thanos has started his conquest," Maleficent said. "Now that Asgard's been destroyed, there's no one to stand in his way. He himself is leading his squads to where the Infinity Stones are. That Heartless was the last of my scouts from Xandar, and he barely escaped alive. Thanos was there and slaughtered everyone who got in his way of the Power Stone with the help of his Black Order."</p>
<p>"Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive, and Proxima Midnight..." Pete remembered some of their names aloud, looking down with a horrified expression. He looked at Maleficent with his eyes wide. "What do we do!?"</p>
<p>"Calm down!" Maleficent snapped at Pete, even though she herself still looked scared. "We must double our efforts to find the box with the Book of Prophecies."</p>
<p>"And what if they find us before we find the box?" Pete asked.</p>
<p>"Well..." Maleficent started, realizing she didn't have a plan.</p>
<p>"Wait a minute..." Pete said, hand on his chin in thought.</p>
<p>"What is it?" Maleficent asked.</p>
<p>"We've seen how powerful the runts with the Keyblades are," Pete reminded her. "We've witnessed what they're capable of, and you yourself have seen what Vanitas can do both with and without his Keyblade... What if we sick them on Thanos? I mean, they already know about 'im, and are preparing to take him on one day."</p>
<p>Maleficent hummed in thought as she placed her hand on her chin.</p>
<p>"I shall think about it," she decided. "For now, we must keep searching for the box. And if we do encounter Thanos along the way..."</p>
<p>"...We pray," Pete eventually said.</p>
<p>"Precisely," Maleficent agreed with a gulp.</p>
<p>Pete sat back down in his chair, while Maleficent contemplated some more about whether or not letting Sora and Vanitas know of Thanos was a good idea... <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 Advanced Joy-Buzzer</p>
<p>*2 I figured that with the guy and his indefinitely large army after her, Maleficent would probably have scouts all over the place to keep a watch out for anything involving Thanos. This little scene was thought up to both show what they're up to now, and help plant the seeds for Endgame, since I'm still skipping Infinity War</p>
<p>This was a fun one to do. Ragnarok was definitely one of the best in the MCU. It was where Thor really shined, and that helped improve his character in a great way for Infinity War. Now, the next Marvel story won't be for a little while, but it is still in the realm of III. Like I said before, check out the notes section for this series, and you'll see what I mean...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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